Men’s tennis trounces opposition

Middlebury men’s tennis has been on the grind of late, racking up multiple victories in the past couple weeks to earn a well-justified number one national ranking.

Much of the team’s success stems from talented senior leadership, as five of the six seniors captain the team.

After an exhibition win over Glendale and despite an initial National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) loss against Azusa Pacific (CA) –– which was riding its longest winning streak in three years –– Middlebury made its biggest national splash of the season by flooring last year’s number-one ranked team, UC Santa Cruz, over its Spring Break trip to California. The Panthers entered the trip ranked fourth in the nation.

Coach Schwarz’s squad lost just one close match in the key victory. After doubles play, Middlebury held just a 2-1 victory but started to pull away with a momentum-swinging, come-from-behind victory by co-captain Andrew Thomson ’10.

Thomson won consecutive sets 6-0, 6-0 after dropping his first. Co-captain Peter Odell ’10 followed with a 7-5, 6-4 victory to give the Panthers a 5-1 lead.

From then on, Middlebury swept the rest of the singles matches, including notably dominant triumphs by #1 singles player Andrew Peters ’11 and co-captain and #2 Andrew Lee ’10 en route to an 8-1 victory.

The Panthers followed up the UCSC victory with a 7-2 win over Redlands and another tough NAIA match, which ended in a 7-2 defeat against Vanguard. They completed the trip with an 8-1 victory over Pomona-Pitzer, a 7-2 exhibition triumph over Cerritos, and another 7-2 domination of Claremont. In this last match, #3 singles player Conrad Olson ’10 sealed it with 6-2, 6-2 victories as the Panthers won five of six singles matches.

Middlebury returned with a 7-2 record and a #1 Division III ranking in the March 30 national poll.

Upon returning from the trip, Thomson was pleased with the results but wary of the pitfalls of becoming complacent.

“Our team is not looking to let up, even after such a solid trip,” said Thomson. “We are still going to focus on one match at a time and bring it every day to practice.”

His attitude is certainly one shared by the rest of the team, as Middlebury continued its impressive performance with 9-0 and 8-1 NESCAC road victories over Tufts and Bates, respectively, last weekend at Bates.

The Jumbos were quite a pushover as the Panthers won a quick two of three doubles matches and dominated in five of six singles matches in straight sets.

Alec Parower ’13 posted a remarkably hard-fought 6-2, 6-4 victory over Tufts junior Tony Carucci in the longest match of the day. Middlebury improved to 8-2 as Tufts dropped to 3-3.

Bates, ranked 29th in the country, provided a tougher test for Middlebury, but hardly pressured the Panthers over the course of the day.

Top doubles team Thomson and Lee maintained winning form, as did pairs Olson and co-captain Eliot Jia ’10 and Peters and Eric Vehovec ’12. Peters, Lee, Olson, Odell and Jia all posted victories in singles play. Bates dropped to 6-3 overall as Middlebury improved to a NESCAC-leading 9-2.

The Panthers visit Trinity and Wesleyan this weekend.