Tennis finishes NESCAC play undefeated, moves onto semis

Middlebury men’s tennis encountered its toughest challenge of the season last weekend, hosting fifth-ranked Amherst in a battle of the two top teams not only in the NESCAC, but in the country as well. At 22-8 overall and 7-1 in league play, Amherst proved to be the opposite of the typical NESCAC pushover the Panthers have been used to facing this season.

After doubles play, Middlebury held on to a 2-1 lead with two impressive victories and a tough loss. Former ITA National Champion combo Andrew Lee ’10 and Andrew Thomson ’10 remained in usual form against Amherst’s best doubles pair, polishing off an 8-5 victory with impressive teamwork. Conrad Olson ’10 and Eliot Jia ’10 lost a hard-fought 9-8 nail-biter at #2 doubles, eventually succumbing in the tiebreaker.

Chris Mason ’10 returned from injury hiatus, teaming with Andrew Peters ’11 to post an impressive, much-needed 8-4 victory to give Middlebury the lead.

“Peters and Mason played extremely well at #3 doubles, especially with Chris just coming off a wrist injury,” said Thomson.

“They came up big with two solid doubles wins (the other coming the following day at Williams) this weekend, which was very impressive considering how little Mason has been able to practice recently.”

A war of attrition followed in singles play. The Lord Jeffs went up 3-2 to tie the match, with Thomson and Jia both fighting off foes to win in straight sets. But the sizzling finale came as the beautiful afternoon wound down next to Proctor, with Andrew Lee and Amherst freshman Mark Kahan duking it out in #2 doubles.

Tied 1-1, Lee’s endurance, power, experience and precision — as well as the bellowing support of remaining fans — helped him prevail in the final set, 6-3, to give Middlebury the 5-4 victory and incontrovertible regular season NESCAC supremacy.

“Simply a clutch performance by Lee, per usual,” noted Peter Odell ’10.

The Panthers traveled to Williams the following day to finish off their regular season. Williams, ranked 12 in the country, stood no chance. Middlebury, riding the momentum of the Amherst victory and tasting a potential NESCAC championship, dominated the tougher matches. Co-captains Lee and Thomson finished off perfect weekends, defeating Williams’ best doubles combo 8-4 and winning each of their singles matches at #2 and #3 singles, respectively, in straight sets. Jia again triumphed at #5 singles, 6-4, 6-4.

“Jia has showed how well he has been playing lately as he was in our singles lineup for both matches,” said Thomson. “He has really stepped up in a huge way for our team.”

Williams moved to 9-5 overall and 6-2 in the NESCAC while Middlebury completed yet another undefeated season in NESCAC play. The Panthers continue a league dynasty that has not seen a regular-season league loss since 2002, and they look forward to taking the NESCAC crown this weekend.

After finishing 16-2 overall and 8-0 in the NESCAC, Thomson cannot deny the confidence the Panthers have going into the NESCAC tournament.

“It was great to finish my last two regular season matches in my career with wins,” Thomson said.

The best, though, is yet to come.

“I still do not think we have played our best tennis yet. We will need to continue to work if we want to peak at the right time.”