Men's tennis embarks upon another season of dominance

The Middlebury men’s tennis team opened up the fall season with a bang this last weekend, taking home victories in the A, B, C and D singles flights as well as one of the two doubles flights of the annual Middlebury Invitational tournament. The Panthers recovered seamlessly from the departure of last year’s coach, who led the squad to the NESCAC championship in his final season.

This year, heavy talent from top singles player Andy Peters ’11, who just may be the best player in the NESCAC, as well as Mike Malhame ’11, Jeronimo Riefkohl ’11, William Oberrender ’13 and Alec Parower ’13, has ensured that the Panthers are a force to be reckoned with yet again and a threat to repeat their success from last year. The team is also strengthened by a surge of powerful first-year talent –– five skilled first-year players join the Panthers veterans.

Andy Peters ’11 dropped just 17 of 64 games on his way to four straight-set victories against some of the toughest contenders in the league. Brantner Jones ’14 won C-flight singles in straight sets as well.

But despite all of Middlebury’s success on the courts, one of the most alluring aspects of this tournament had to be the first round A-flight singles match between Parower of Middlebury and senior Rich Bonfiglio of Trinity College, a former Panther player. Bonfiglio outplayed Parower to win the first set 6-1, but then a couple key points and an arguably controversial call turned the tables in Parower’s favor. Parower capitalized on inappropriate court behavior and immature outbursts from Bonfiglio to capture the second set 6-4. Just as Bonfiglio looked as if he was ready to throw his racket, cry and quit, he stepped up his game and took the third set super-tiebreak by a score of 10-7.

Although Parower might not have won that particular match, sometimes the moral victories in life are just as important as those on paper. This weekend’s impressive and sportsmanlike play from the Panthers has shown that fans can definitely expect big things from Middlebury’s men’s Tennis team this year.