Eliot Jia ’10 punishes NESCAC foes

Middlebury men’s tennis hosted Bowdoin and Colby this past weekend, earning a pair of unchallenged wins in NESCAC play. To date, it was undoubtedly the team’s most convincingly dominant weekend, as not one player or doubles pair lost a set.

The Polar Bears, who were the first Panther opponents in Nelson Arena, came into the match ranked in the top 20 nationally and were expected to test Middlebury’s NESCAC supremacy. The Panthers, however, came out with a roaring start and quickly took over the match.

Middlebury won each singles match in straight sets, highlighted by a cutthroat 6-0, 6-0 whooping handed out by Conrad Olson ’10, a 6-2, 6-0 conquest by Andrew Thomson ’10 and a forceful 6-3, 6-0 triumph for star Andrew Peters ’11, who had no trouble with Bowdoin’s best and very talented singles player, Stephen Sullivan.

After Peters and company led the way in singles play, Middlebury doubles came out to sweep match play against Bowdoin, a feat never previously achieved by the Panther seniors.

The Polar Bears have historically given Middlebury headaches in doubles play, but the Panthers won each of the three matches by at least four games. Thomson and Andrew Lee ’10 handled Bowdoin’s top pair, 8-4, as did Peters and David Farah ’12 in the number three slot. On the day, however, the Panther squad was led by Olson and Eliot Jia ’10, who dusted a tough #2 doubles team 8-1 and were the consensus stars of the day.

“Jia and Conrad played really well,” noted Peter Odell ’10, “and it looked throughout the [doubles] match that Jia was having a lot of fun spiking almost every ball.”

“Jia definitely stood out this weekend,” added Thomson.

“His doubles play has been spectacular this year. He has worked especially hard to improve his fitness and it has benefited every part of his tennis game. He gets to every ball that much quicker and it allows him to use his shot-making ability.”

Middlebury then cruised to another 9-0 victory over Colby, able to rest five of its top six singles players.

Again, each Panther won his respective match in straight sets.

Jia added another success to his daily resume, having no trouble in a 6-0, 6-1 victory at #2 singles. Peters kept Colby’s top singles player at bay, posting a 6-2, 6-2 victory.

Youngsters Derrick Angle ’12, Spencer Lunghino ’13, Chris Schlabach ’13, and Will Oberrender ’13 all got some great reps and proved their talent by winning every set at least 6-4.

“Beating a team like Colby 9-0 while resting a lot of players just shows how strong and deep our team really is,” said Odell.

Indeed, the Panthers seem to be clicking on all cylinders as they move to 6-0 in the NESCAC and 13-2 overall. With three more matches to go, Middlebury is in strong position to make a push in the national tournament, and is enjoying every minute of it.

“It is just too much fun playing for our team this year,” said Thomson, “and I simply feel lucky to be a part of it.”

The Panthers take on Skidmore on Friday before they finish with NESCAC foes Williams and Amherst the following weekend.