Men's Tennis Full of Sound and Fury

Author: Sean Breen

The Middlebury men's tennis team opened its fall season by hosting the Middlebury Invitational last weekend. Despite the presence of Bowdoin, Bates and Rochester, the Panthers managed to dominate to the extent that the flight A and B singles finals, and top doubles final featured solely Middlebury players. In the A-flight singles finals, sophomore Brian Waldron managed a 6-1, 6-4 victory over fellow sophomore teammate Nate Edmunds. In the B-flight final, first-year Kevin Bergeson exhibited the talent expected of the Class of '07 in defeating fellow first-year George Mayer, 6-4, 6-3. Junior Alex Meditez cruised against his Rochester opponent in the flight C finals, 6-1, 6-3.

In Saturday's opening rounds, sophomore Ari Beilin won both his flight A matches, culminating in a win over the #4 seed from Rochester, to advance to the semifinals. En route to his top finish, Waldron posted an impressive victory over Will Boe-Wiegaard, last year's NESCAC champion. Edmunds cruised through as well to reach Sunday's flight A final. Justin Igoglia '07, lost in the quarterfinals.

In the B-flight, sophomore Jeff Oldenburg, and first-years George Mayer and Kevin Bergesen, all won both their Saturday matches.

"With so many of our guys left, there will be lots of matches between teammates tomorrow, commented Edmunds, who helped lead Middlebury to new heights last year as a freshman. "It's hard to play your own teammate, but I think that it's good because it shows how much we dominated today. Tomorrow should be good, quality tennis and should make us all a little better."

Sunday's weather brought some problems and forced the final few matches inside to Nelson Arena. A change of location did nothing to quel the spirits or dampen the enthusiasm of the players though as the tournament continued its competitve nature. Three of the four A flight quarterfinalists were Middlebury players. Waldron defeated teammate Beilin 6-4, 6-2, while Edmunds dominated his semi-final match by 6-1, 6-1. An all sophomore Edmunds/Waldron final produced much drama, and Waldron managed to pull it out.

In Flight B, Bergesen cracked through to the finals by beating the #1 seed from Rochester by 5-7, 6-3, 10-6, in one of the most hard fought and exciting matches of the tournament. Mayer defeated teammate Oldenburg to advance to the finals, where teammate Bergesen waited. In the finals, however, it was Mayer who ended up victorious after putting in an excellent performance when it counted.

Middlebury's performance in this tournament was quite impressive. Flights A, B, and C ended in Middlebury victories with Middlebury players also finishing second in both the A and B division. Everyone played with competitiveness and with an attitude that will drive the team to excellence throughout the season.

Middlebury carried its strong singles play into both the A and B doubles flights. Flight A, which featured Edmunds/Waldron and ended in a weather forced 6-6 tie, but the match up was set between Edmunds/Waldron and Stuart Brown/Ingoglia, both Middlebury teams. In the B Flight, Mayer/Jacobi won over Rochester by 8-1.

After what turned out to look like a set of scrimmages between teammates, there is not doubt that Middlebury Tennis has the talent to do great things. Expect to see them dominate the NESCAC division this year and push Middlebury tennis onto the national scene.