Men’s tennis edges out Bowdoin, dominates Bates on weekend

The men’s tennis team defended their number one ranking over the weekend by completing a two-game sweep over their Maine rivals Bowdoin and Bates. On Saturday, the Panthers defeated 14th-ranked Bowdoin 5-4 before trouncing the number 21 team in the country, Bates, 8-1 to improve to 14-1 overall and 5-0 in NESCAC for the season.
While the final score of the Bowdoin match suggested a tight win for the Panthers, the team got off to a 5-1 lead, sealing the victory early before dropping the last three matches to win by the score of 5-4. Head coach Rob Barr was particularly pleased with the way his team overcame adversity in the match against the rival Polar Bears.
“I was really impressed by our performance and toughness this weekend,” Barr said. “The match against Bowdoin was interesting for several reasons. Everyone had to play up a spot in the lineup as Derrick Angle [’12] was out with an illness. Bowdoin had a huge crowd on hand, and temperatures never went above 39 degrees with swirling winds.”
Despite missing one of their tri-captains in Angle, the Panthers overcame the elements to take five of the first six matches. Brantner Jones ’14 and Andrew Peters ’11 led the way for Middlebury in their match against Bowdoin as they registered three of the team’s five wins.
The 21st-ranked doubles team of Jones and Peters improved their record to 7-0 on the season as they downed Steven Sullivan and Sam King of Bowdoin 8-6. Spencer Lunghino ’13 and David Farah ’12 also provided an early doubles win for the Panthers with an 8-4 victory over Bowdoin from the second doubles position. After taking two of the three doubles matches, Middlebury split the six single matches with the Polar Bears. Peters, the 10th-ranked singles player in the country, made easy work of a potentially tough match with 15th-ranked singles player Stephen Sullivan. Peters took down Sullivan in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2. Jones and James Burke ’14 rounded out the other two singles wins for the top-ranked Panthers.
If the Panthers performance on Saturday at Bowdoin was impressive, they were even better on Sunday at Bates. Facing the 21st-ranked team in the country, the Panthers blew by the Bobcats 8-1. Surprisingly the lone loss came from the number one doubles team as Peters and Jones lost for the first time this season, falling to the Bobcats Matt Bettles and Rob Crampton 8-4. The Panthers dropped just two sets on the afternoon and after his first loss in doubles play this season Peters rebounded with a dominant win in the first singles position.
“The match against Bates was one of our better playing performances as a team,” said head coach Rob Barr. “Andy Peters was simply awesome in his match against nationally ranked Matt Bettles of Bates 6-0, 6-1, but everyone in the lineup looked very sharp.”
The Panthers host 28th-ranked Skidmore on Saturday and ninth-ranked Williams on Sunday. The Ephs delivered Middlebury’s last NESCAC loss on April 9, 2008 in a match at Williams. The Panthers head into the weekend with a sixty-five match unbeaten streak at home. The Ephs are 8-5 on the season, but are playing their best tennis recently as they swept Wesleyan and Connecticut College 9-0 over the weekend. They also pushed third-ranked Amherst to a 5-4 result, but ultimately came up short.
“We prepare for two very tough teams this weekend,” coach Barr said.
The Panthers will finish off the regular season at Amherst on April 30. The NESCAC Tournament will start the weekend after. Last year the team steamed past both Trinity and Williams to win the NESCAC championships before moving on to the NCAA tournament.
After easily beating out Skidmore, MIT and N.C. Wesleyan, they were able to barely scrape out a 5-4 win against Wash. Univ. to advance to the NCAA Championships. In the Championships they beat out NESCAC rivals Amherst 5-1. Winning NCAA has set a sense of prestige for the Panthers who so far this season are 14-1, losing only to Azusa Pacific during spring break.