Men’s and Women’s Tennis Holds Own in Cambridge

The men’s and women’s teams continued their fall seasons last weekend, playing from Friday to Sunday, Oct. 13 to 15. This weekend completes the men’s fall season, but the women are looking on to the annual Middlebury Invitational here at Procter Tennis courts next weekend.

The men’s team competed at the MIT Invitational at the duPont Tennis Courts and the J.B. Carr Tennis Bubble, amongst 64 participants in the main singles draw and 32 pairs in the doubles bracket.

The Panthers had multiple strong plays in the singles main draw. William de Quant ’18, the No. 3 seed, advanced to the final for the second-straight year, and Kyle Schlanger ’18 played strongly to make it to the semifinal.

De Quant claimed five victories over the course of the tournament, defeating Jayson Fung of Amherst 6–2, 4–6, 6–4 in the first round and then Jackson Kogan of Brandeis 7–5, 6–4 in the round of 32. He soundly defeated Bowdoin’s Gil Roddy 6–3, 6–3 and MIT’s Charles Deng 6–4, 6–0 to advance to the semifinal. There he went up against teammate Schlanger, whom he edged out 6–2, 6–4 to proceed to the final. In the end, he fell after a fight to Williams’ Austin Barr 6–3, 5–7, 6–0.

Schlanger started his tournament well with a victory over MIT’s Victor Cheng (6–1, 6–2), and continued playing strong against Ananth Raghavan of Williams (7–5, 6–1) in the round of 32. Schlanger went head to head with teammate Noah Farrell ’19 in the round of 16, edging him out 6–3, 0–6, 6–2. He blew through the quarterfinal with a 6–1, 6–0 win over No. 7 seed Andrew Finkelman of Wesleyan before finishing his run against de Quant in the semifinal.

Farrell, the No. 2 seed, and Nate Eazor ’21 both returned home with two straight-set victories in the main draw. Farrell soundly defeated Justin Patel of Bowdoin 6–2, 6–0 in the first round and Nikhil Das of Brandeis 6–1, 7–5 in the second round. Eazor first cruised past the No. 4 seed, MIT’s Tyler Barr 6–3, 6–4 and then Danny Coran of Tufts 6–2, 6–4.

Timo van der Geest claimed four victories to win the backdraw title, making short work of Ethan Hillis of Amherst in the final with a score of 6–3, 6–4. In addition to the singles draw, four Panther doubles teams competed in the main doubles draw. All dropped their opening-round match.

Meanwhile, the women’s team went up against three Division I opponents in the Harvard Fall Scramble at the Beren Tennis Center. Harvard, Rhode Island, Seton Hall, and Middlebury competed in a form of hidden duals, consisting of three doubles and six to seven singles per round.

On Friday, the Panthers faced Seton Hall. The team of Heather Boehm ’20 and Molly Paradies ’19 grabbed a 6–1 win over Anniek Jansen and Krista Cerpina. Boehm prevailed in her singles match as well, making a comeback and defeating Melody Tall 3–6, 6–2, 6–4. Teammate Maddi Stow ’20 triumphed over Jansen with a score of 6–1, 6–0, and Emily Bian ’21 took a victory over Krista Cerpina with a score of 6–4, 2–6, 3–0. The Panthers eventually lost the day 4–3.

The Panthers faced Rhode Island on Saturday, and won all seven of their matches. The doubles team of Katherine Hughes ’20 and Skylar Schossberger ’20 won 6–2 over Rachel Smilansky and Halah Davis. Ann Martin Skelly ’21 and Stow defeated Mihaela Codreanu and Paige Alshon 6–2, and Bian and Paradies grabbed a victory 6–4 over Ariel Haber and Nicole Legler.

In singles play, Boehm defeated Codreanu in an intense game 6–4, 2–6, 10–2, while Hughes claimed a victory over Smilansky (7–6, 6–4). Paradies won her match against Haber 6–2, 6–3, and Schossberger edged out Davis in 6–3, 7–6. Stow eased past Alshon 6–1, 6–0, and Skelley cruised to a win against Legler 6–2, 6–0. The Panthers won the day 7–0.

The final day faced Harvard, with the doubles team of Hughes and Schossberger picking up the sole win in a 6–1 victory over Irene Lu and Lexi Milunovich.

The women’s team will return to action at home this Friday to Sunday, Oct. 20 to 22, when it hosts the Middlebury Invitational in its final tournament of the fall season.