Walking closer to Middlebury’s new outdoor tennis courts last weekend, the sound of tennis balls pinging off rackets and chants of “Let’s go Midd!” occasionally ripped through the quiet but surprisingly pleasant April air.
The 15th-ranked men’s tennis squad faced off against #19 Williams on Saturday, Apr. 4, coming up short 6–1. The day started with the doubles slate. Middlebury won the third slot but fell short on the #1 match and almost clinched #2 in a 7–6 tiebreak. Williams narrowly took the first point, setting the tone for the singles slate.
“Doubles was a nailbiter, could have gone either way,” Nikky Kondamuri ’27 said.
After a short break, all six singles matches started at once. For the next two hours, six Panthers battled the Williams squad in an attempt to clear the 0–1 deficit. “We’re down on five courts, but we have to keep battling, show them what we have and give it our all,” Kondamuri said during the singles matches.
The battling spirit was put on display when Julian Wu ’26 won a point with broken strings at the start of his second set. Unfazed, Wu jogged to the bench to grab an identical, unbroken racket and played on.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, Williams dominated from the start and quickly brought their advantage to 3–0 when Middlebury’s #2 and #6 lost in two sets. Shortly after, the #3 ended with Williams victorious at 4–0. The Panthers’ only victory came with Reif Larsen ’28 winning the #4 (6–2, 7–5).
“The loss is a great learning experience for our team, and we are looking forward to some of the big conference matches in the upcoming weeks,” Larsen said. “I have full confidence in my teammates that we will all peak together in the right moments, and we have no doubts that the results will come.”
“We started out the season on a really strong note, returning from our California trip with a record of 9–1,” Jake Cohen, the assistant coach, said.
The single loss for the Panthers in the Golden State came against the first-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps program.
“Unfortunately, this past weekend in our first home match of the season, we lost to Williams 1–6. It was a good learning experience for the team and a wake-up call, and we plan on bouncing back this weekend with two more NESCAC opponents ahead,” Cohen said.
On Saturday, the men’s tennis team will head to Hartford to face Trinity. The following day, the Panthers return home to face the #2 Tufts team—a formidable opponent and another chance to prove themselves in NESCAC competition on South Street.
Simon Schmieder '26 (he/him) is a Senior Sports Editor.
Simon is an avid runner and biker and enjoys spending time outdoors. He is a philosophy and political science joint major with a minor in German, in addition to being a Philly sports fan.
