Middlebury will host the NESCAC women’s tennis championship tournament this coming weekend. This tournament will take place after the Middlebury women were beaten by the Amherst Lord Jeffs 8-1 at home this past Saturday. On Friday, however, the team shut out Skidmore 9-0 at home advancing their overall record to 9-4.
Victoria Aiello ’12 came out victorious after a long and hard- fought match in the number one spot. In game one, Rachel Loeb of Skidmore beat out Aiello 4-6. In games two and three Aiello was able to overcome Loeb in two extremely close matches. Aiello won these games 7-6 and 10-8, settling the first in 4 tiebreakers.
In the number five singles spot, Anna Burke ’12 started out strong winning the first match 6-1. Skidmore’s Molly Nolan put up a good fight in the second match, but Burke was able to win the match in just two sets, winning the second 7-5. The rest of the singles players were able to win their matches with just two sets in 6 games. All three doubles players won their matches by at least three games.
The team’s next opponents were the Lady Jeffs who were undefeated going into competition on Sunday. Not holding back, the team put out a great effort but was ultimately defeated by the Jeffs who will go into the playoffs undefeated.
Leah Kepping ’13 came out of the match with the only Middlebury win, defeating Amherst’s Clarissa King 6-3, 6-3 in the number two singles spots. Although the end score of 8-1 does not look close between the Panthers and Lord Jeffs, many of the matches were extremely hard- fought and challenged Amherst’s strength. In the number five singles spot, Burke was barely beat by Laken King, in three sets. Burke beat out King in the first set 7-6, but King was able to come back and beat Burke in the second set 7-6, and then again in the third set 10-4.
Dorrie Paradies ’14 was in a similar position in the number six singles spot, battling her way through three sets to ultimately be defeated. Paradies was beaten in the first set 6-4, but was then able to come back strong in the second set to win 6-3. In the third set, Mimi Bell of Amherst was able to overcome Paradies 6-1 and secure another win for Amherst.
Middlebury will play Bowdoin first at the NESCAC Championship Tournament at home on Friday. Earlier in the season, the Panther women beat the Polar Bears 6-3 on the Bears home court. Middlebury will have home court advantage when they play them again. The tournament will continue through Sunday when the NESCAC Champions will be named.
Last year the team fell in the NESCAC Semifinals to Williams in the tournament which was held at Amherst. Despite this loss, the Panthers who had a 13-5 season, recieved a bid for the NCAA tournament where they advanced to the Regionals. The women met the Lord Jeffs at this Regional match and were defeated by the top-ranked team.
Women’s tennis falls to top-ranked Amherst, heading to NESCACs
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