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Balanced Effort Leads Men’s Basketball Past Plattsburgh St.

In their only game of the week, men’s basketball ran past Plattsburgh State 92–68 on Tuesday, Dec. 5. The Panthers, who climbed up to second in the national poll, moved to 5–0, entering their matchup with No. 16 Skidmore on Friday, Dec. 8. Middlebury took an early 15–4 lead in the first ten minutes of the first half on Tuesday, led by stout defense and some cold shooting by Plattsburgh State. The Cardinals made only two of their first 17 shots. The Panthers extended their first half lead to as many as 14 points when they took a 37–23 lead with 1:58 left, but Plattsburgh St. ended the half on a 7–1 run to cut the deficit to eight. The Cardinals continued to creep closer to the Panthers out of the break, scoring the first four points to make it a four-point game. Middlebury responded with a 21–3 run to put the Cardinals in a hole they could not climb out of. After a tough first half when he made only two of his eight shots from the field, Matt Folger ’20 heated up in that stretch, going on a 9–0 run of his own. The Panthers extended their lead to as many as 27, but the game remained pretty even and ended in a 91–68 Middlebury victory. Middlebury got going from deep and hit nine of their 18 three-point attempts in the second half, including three from Griffin Kornaker ’21. Kornaker made his first appearance in the blue and white, after suffering a preseason injury and sitting out the first four games of the season. He was one of five Panthers in double figures on Tuesday, finishing with 11 points, while Daly and Folger both scored a game-high 14. Daly added nine assists and eight rebounds, and Folger tallied his second double-double of the season with 11 rebounds. Jack Farrell ’21 scored a career-high 12 points on five of six shooting, and Hilal Dahleh ’19 tallied 13 points on five of seven shooting. Next up for the Panthers is the Skidmore game on Friday, Dec. 8 at Saratoga Springs, New York. The Thoroughbreds have proven to be a tough challenge in year’s past. Last year, Middlebury eked out a 72–71 victory, but the season before, Skidmore won 82–77. Three season ago, Middlebury won by one as well, 57–56. This season, both teams enter the matchup undefeated, Middlebury at 5–0 and Skidmore at 6–0.

Rocky Start for Men’s Hockey, As They Fall to 0–4

The men’s hockey season is in full swing, with four games under the Panthers’ belts. The Panthers took to the ice on Saturday, Nov. 18, at Kenyon Arena looking to improve on last years run. With an 0–4 start, after their first two weekends of play, the young team is figuring out where it needs work and the pace of Nescac play. The Panthers dropped the season opener to Colby falling 9–1. Saturday they tightened up their play and challenged Bowdoin in a 2–0 loss. On Nov. 18, in the season opener, the Mules cruised past the Panthers from the first few minutes of the competition. Colby quickly got to work and broke past the Panther defense. At 2:43 in the opening period, the Mules’ Mike Rudolph found teammate Mario Benicky who tallied the first goal of the contest. Unfortunately for the Panthers, Colby did not take long to double their total within the first five minutes of play as another shot whistled past Panther goalie Stephen Klein ’18. Less than 20 seconds later, Middlebury’s response came from Brendan Dawson ’20. He kept the Panthers in the game after creating his own opportunity and going the length of the ice for the tally. This cut the Colby lead to one goal as they headed into the second period. Middlebury would be unable to add to their total despite a number of scoring opportunities, including a couple of chances later on in the match. Building off of momentum, the Mules capitalized on their lead netting three shots past the Panther goalie in the second period. Two of those strikes were on Mule power plays - at the 15:46 and 7:34 marks. The Panthers wasted a golden opportunity in that stanza, failing to score despite having a five on three power play advantage for almost two minutes. In the last period, Colby continued to exploit a porous Middlebury defense, increasing their advantage by four. Benicky and J.P. Schuhlen each realized a hat trick, which helped to solidify the Mules’ first conference victory of the season. Klein shared time between the pipes with Brian Ketchabaw ’20 and Henry Cutting ’19. The three netminders had 18, nine, and three saves respectively. Middlebury trailed Colby in shots on goal by 39–23, going a long way to explain the significant score differential. Trevor Turnbull ’20 reflected on the team’s first appearance. “I think it was more about execution than strategy,” said Turnbull. “We have a young team that is eager to erase last year’s mistakes, and I think that played against us come game time being that we came out with more nerves than energy.” These nerves would come up again as Middlebury took to the ice to face Bowdoin the next day on Nov. 19. While the result was not the desired outcome, the Panthers showed a much improved defense that allowed only two goals to the visiting Polar Bears. Bowdoin, coming off an 8–16–1 season last year, batted the puck past the Panther goalie with 11:43 gone in the first period to capture the early lead. The Panthers had a few opportunities within the first few minutes, but the visitors from Brunswick denied their attempts. In the second period, the Panthers came to life outshooting the Polar Bears 13–5, but they were unable to capitalize on this significant shot differential. Bowdoin secured their first triumph of the season with under eight minutes left in the game, when Thomas Dunleavy knocked a rebound past Middlebury. With under two minutes of play, the Panthers had a power play and were up by two players where they pulled Klein to try to force a goal, and put them on the board. But, Bowdoin’s defense was bulletproof, however, and they were able to maintain their shutout. The Panthers showed offensive improvement compared to their duel against Colby, by outshooting the Polar Bears 39–27. “This week we are going to practice keeping our game fast and simple, trying to not do too much with the puck,” said Joey Piccinini ’20 after the opening-weekend thud. “If we are just able to do the little things better, we should see some success in the tournament this weekend.” While Piccinini’s statement reflected the team’s optimism, it was not enough for the Panthers to come out on top this past weekend against either Lawrence and Norwich. The Panthers kept busy over the break and celebrated Thanksgiving by skating around their home rink at the PrimeLink Great Northern Shootout. The tournament’s contenders included Middlebury, Norwhich, Lawrence, and Plattsburgh State. The Panthers were knocked out of the main draw with a 6–3 loss to Lawrence, although Middlebury started to show some significant strides as they led 2–1 after one period and were tied half way through the third. Nonetheless, the Panthers put up a strong fight against Lawrence in Kenyon Arena in the first round. Middlebury came out firing in the first period, with an aggressive offense that the Vikings were not prepared to face. The Panthers wasted no time in penetrating the Lawrence defense, and ultimately found their opportunity. In the first few minutes, transfer Owen Powers ’20 paved the way for the first goal of the game as he swatted the puck back to Ryan Ashe ’21 after winning a faceoff. It was Michael Fahie ’21 who then found the back of the net and pulled the Panthers ahead. But the Vikings took less than three minutes to respond to the Panthers, equalizing the score. The Panthers proceeded to double their lead when Kamil Tkaczuk ’19 found an opening past the Viking goalie at the 8:59 mark. Middlebury’s greatest challenge throughout the second period came from numerous penalties. However, the stanza held scoreless until Lawrence was able to breach the Panther defense and climb to 2–2 heading into the final time frame. With a tie game on the line, the Panthers would have to compete with the intensity they had in the first period in the last 20 minutes. Three minutes into the last stanza though, Lawrence’s Jake Roeper slid a shot past the Middlebury keeper, lifting them to a one goal advantage. But, the Panthers were able to momentarily erase the Vikings’ lead after Powers skillfully struck a shot past their goalie. This would be Middlebury’s last response to Lawrence, as the Vikings secured their spot in the next round of the tournament slapping back three quick goals past the Middlebury defense and finalizing the total to 6–3. “The biggest thing for us is tightening up our systems and playing a full 60 minutes,” said Ethan Cohen ’19. “The team we are capable of being has been there in stretches all season, and it was there for much of this weekend. “Focusing on cutting down on mistakes will get us where we need to be,” Cohen added. “It’s definitely early enough to turn the season around and we believe that we’re capable of doing so.” Finally, last Saturday Nov. 25, the Panthers looked to take another step forward against the defending national champion, Norwich, in the consolation round. While the Panthers came up short in the tall task, losing 5–1, they had an opportunity to match up in the season’s early going against one of the country’s best. For the first nine minutes of the matchup, neither team was able to get on the board. It was only off of a power play that Norwich tallied their first goal. Seconds before the 15 minute mark, Fahie tapped in the second goal of his career as a Panther, matching the Cadets’ total and pulling the Panthers even 1–1 with the national champs. Unfortunately, this would be Middlebury’s last scoring play of the tournament. The Cadets would go on to net four more shots in the last two periods, with no response from the hosts. Middlebury only trailed Norwich 33–27 in shots on goal, but they were not able to capitalize on these opportunities as Cadet goalie Tom Aubrun was stellar, recording 26 saves. Middlebury also failed to exploit three power play opportunities, coming up empty handed on each of them. Fahie was named to the all-tournament team. The men’s hockey team will continue to battle for their first victory this weekend against another couple of Nescac rivals. Tomorrow they will be at Connecticut College and Saturday they travel to play at Tufts.

Men’s Basketball Wins Middlebury Tournament

The eighth-ranked men’s basketball team swept its first four games of the season for the first time in four years, highlighted by winning its own tournament the weekend before Thanksgiving before winning two games on the road over break. In the first tournament ever hosted by the men’s basketball team, the Panthers swamped Fitchburg St. 111–72 on Friday, Nov. 17, and dismissed Wentworth 74­–58 on Saturday, Nov. 18, to win the tournament. Then, Middlebury went on the road to beat Johnson St. 84–77 on Tuesday, Nov. 21, and Endicott 78–67 on Sunday, Nov. 26. Jack Daly ’18 led the way for the Panthers in all four wins, averaging 19.5 points, 11.5 rebounds, and 8.8 assists per game so far this season and recording what is believed to be the first triple-double in program history in the season-opener against Fitchburg St. Middlebury came out firing in their season-opener at home in Pepin Gymnasium on Friday, Nov. 17. Midway through the first half, the Panthers already held a 36–16 lead over Fitchburg St. And at the end of the first half, Middlebury led 62–27. The team shot 60 percent from the field, including eight of 12 from beyond the arc, and made 18 of 24 free throws, while the Falcons shot only 24 percent from the field. The second half was much closer as Fitchburg St. shot the ball much better in the second half, but Middlebury was up by enough of a margin that it didn’t matter, as they won very comfortably by the final score of 111–72. Along with Daly’s triple-double of 10 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists, Matt Folger ’20 led the Panthers in scoring with 17 on six of nine shooting and Eric McCord ’19 added 15 off the bench on a perfect seven of seven from the field. All in all, it was a balanced effort for the Panthers, as five players scored in double digits and every player on the roster played and scored. As a team, the Panthers shot 56 percent from the field and knocked down 12 of their 23 three point attempts. They also assisted on 27 of their 36 baskets. “Our motto on offense is ‘one more’ and that means we make the extra pass to get a great shot instead of a good shot,” said Daly of the Panthers’ offensive success on Friday. “Our success on offense stems from our passing and everyone’s selflessness. No one cares who gets the credit as long as we put the ball in the hoop. We are playing our up-tempo style to get easy points and look to tire the opponents out. It’s a lot of fun playing on a team that averages 20 assists per game and people take pride in sharing the ball.” In the championship game of the Middlebury Tournament on Saturday, Nov. 18, Middlebury’s offense cooled from its white-hot pace on Friday, but the Panthers still handled Wentworth 74–58 to win the tournament. Ahead by only one point with 6:19 remaining in the first half, the Panthers rattled off an 11–2 run over the next three minutes to take a 10-point lead, which was where they stood at halftime leading 38–28. Wentworth cut the lead to seven points twice in the second half but could never get it lower than that, and the Panthers rode to the 74–58 win. Daly helped seal the Middlebury victory with 20 second-half points on seven of eight shooting, on his way to a career-high 25 points. For his efforts, Daly was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. Folger joined Daly on the all-tournament team, adding 15 points, nine rebounds, and three blocks on Saturday. Adisa Majors ’18 also chipped in 14 points on seven of nine from the field and seven rebounds in the win. After shooting over 50 percent from three-point range against Fitchburg St., the Panthers made only 29 percent of their three-point attempts against the Leopards. Still, the Panthers shot 50 percent from the field and held Wentworth under 60 points and to 36 percent shooting. “When the shots aren’t falling, we just have to make sure our defense is executing,” Daly said. “We gave up under 60 points against Wentworth, so I’m confident that if we can do that then we will win the game. Coach has been preaching that we must bring intensity, energy and passion to the defensive side. “We can’t expect perfection this early in the season, but it’s been a great start to the season going 4–0.” After two days off, Middlebury went on the road for its first away game of the season at Johnson St. on Tuesday, Nov. 21. The Badgers went ahead 16–14 7:19 into the first half, but the Panthers went on a 15–0 run over the next six minutes to take a thirteen-point lead. Middlebury’s lead grew to as great as 17 points, and the Panthers went into the locker with a 44–27 lead. The Panthers extended their lead to 21 in the first four minutes of the second half, but then the Badgers started to slowly chip away, cutting Middlebury’s lead to as little as eight with just over seven minutes left in the contest. Middlebury responded with a 6–0 spurt, and the lead never fell below 10 until the Badgers hit a shot in garbage time that made the final score 84–77 in Middlebury’s favor. The pair of Daly and Folger led the Panthers once more. Daly tallied 24 points, a career-high 15 rebounds and eight assists, while Folger added 21 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals. Marqwon Wynn kept the Badgers in the contest by scoring a game-high 29 points, including 17 in the second half. Middlebury aimed to start 4–0 for the first time in four seasons when it took to the court at Endicott on Sunday, Nov. 26. Last season, the Panthers hosted Endicott on the Sunday after Thanksgiving with a 3­–0 record too, but fell to the Gulls 93–89. The Panthers got their revenge in the NCAA Tournament Sectional Semifinal, when they routed the Gulls 89–60. Adding to the intrigue, Endicott entered the contest 2–0 after upsetting No. 7 Babson on its home-court two days prior to its matchup with the Panthers. This time around, Middlebury would not be denied a 4–0 start, fueled by an 11–0 run to end the first half to take a 38–23 lead into the break. The Panthers extended their lead to 20 in the first five minutes of the second half, but once again, Endicott chipped away at their lead until it was just six with over six minutes to go. Middlebury responded with five quick points, and the game never got any closer, ending in a 78–67 road victory for the Panthers. “The two games against Johnson St. and Endicott were road games and for the new guys that’s a tough environment to play in,” Daly said. “It’s a learning process at this point in the season and I thought they all did a tremendous job in handling themselves and keeping their composure. We expect teams to make runs on their home court, so it’s important how we handle those runs and in both games we did a great job of answering. A road win is never easy, so to be 2–0 on the road so far is great.” Daly led the Panthers in scoring with a game-high 19 points and almost had his second triple-double of the season, coming up one rebound and one assist short. Fellow captain Nick Tarantino ’18 tallied a season-high 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Hilal Dahleh ’19 added a career-high 18 points on six of seven shooting, including 4 of five from three-point range. Endicott’s Keith Brown entered the contest leading the NCAA in scoring with 41.5 ppg, including 45 in the Gulls’ upset victory over Babson, but scored only 15 on 5–13 shooting against Middlebury. “Coach devised a great defensive plan and we executed it perfectly,” Daly said. “He had five turnovers, and we limited his touches. The coaching staff put us in a great position to slow him down. The rotations were great which was a crucial part in slowing him down.” Middlebury will return to the court on Tuesday, Dec. 5, when it hosts Plattsburgh St. (0–2) in its final home game before final exams. The two teams last met two seasons ago, when the Panthers defeated the Cardinals 71–49.

Women’s Soccer Bows Out in Second Round of NCAAs

After a thrilling season filled with ups than downs, the women’s soccer team’s 2017 campaign came to a close in the second round of the NCAA tournament this past weekend. Playing at the field of regional host MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Panthers opened the 64-team tournament with a 1–0 victory over the Western Connecticut State Colonials on Saturday, Nov. 11. The next day, the team squared off against the Engineers in what promised to be an exciting match as it featured two top-25 teams (No. 13 MIT and No. 17 Middlebury). There was added intrigue, as well, given that it was the Panthers who eliminated MIT from NCAAs in the first round of the 2016 tournament. This time, however, it was the Engineers who outdid the Panthers. After 90 minutes of tenacious soccer from both teams, MIT emerged with a 1–0 victory to send Middlebury home with a final record of 12–4–2. After getting bounced from the Nescac tournament in the first round three weeks ago, the Panthers found themselves waiting at home while the conference championship concluded the next weekend. Even though they didn’t yet have the assurance that they’d even be invited to the NCAA tournament, Middlebury was hungry for revenge: they went above and beyond in their preparation to put themselves in the best possible position to succeed. When they did get the call for the NCAA tournament, they were ready, according to Alex Barber ’19: “MWS came into the NCAAs sharp and ready to play. Even though we didn’t get to compete in the last weekend of the Nescac tournament, we took no time off and instead played a full inter-squad match on that Saturday. We had an intense week of practice leading up to the first weekend of NCAAs, including a 6:30 a.m. practice and a training session at UVM. “We don’t mess around when it comes to the NCAAs because we know how great of an opportunity it is and how fierce the competition is. It’s all about how bad you want it, and we consistently battle to show it.” Their preparedness was more than evident in Saturday’s matchup against Western Connecticut St. Although the Panthers only ended up winning by one goal, the details of the box score offer a little more insight as to how the game really went.Middlebury dominated the game in terms of possession and managed 19 shots to Western Connecticut State’s nine. Some of the negative statistics even pointed to a dominant Panther team: the fact that Middlebury was flagged for offside violations seven times to the Colonials’ one was indicative of how much more time the ball spent on their opponent’s half of the field. Barber felt that Saturday’s matchup against the Colonials was a high point in the Panthers’ season, at least in terms of their performance. “We played technically sharp from the beginning and kept the ball on their half for most of the game, creating continuous scoring opportunities for ourselves,” Barber said. “Defensively, we kept their best player from having any dangerous attacking opportunities. I think that game was some of the best soccer we played all season.” Barber was involved in Middlebury’s best scoring opportunity of the first half when she directed a corner kick into the penalty box around the 27-minute mark. Alissa Huntington ’18 got her head on the cross, but the Colonials’ keeper managed to fend off the attempt with a diving save. The Panthers, keeping the crowd on their toes, ended up waiting until the 83rd minute to convert on one of their many scoring opportunities. Clare Robinson ’19 crossed a ball to Barber in Colonial territory, who, in turn, found Virginia Charman ’20 with a beautiful one-touch pass. Charman didn’t waste the opportunity. She laced the ball into the upper-left corner of the net to give Middlebury the deciding 1–0 lead. The Colonials made one last attempt that ricocheted off the crossbar in the 86th minute, allowing the Panthers held on for the 1–0 victory to advance to the second round. Facing an MIT team on Sunday that had just stomped Castleton 7–2 a day before, Middlebury nevertheless felt ready for what their opponent was going to bring. “Having played MIT in the first round last year,” Barber explained, “we know what kind of team they are and how they like to play. They play technical and pretty soccer, just how we like to play. Both teams had lots of scoring opportunities and it was a very exciting game, but ultimately, we were unable to find the back of the net in time to score a goal and tie it up. “MIT is a great team, and we finished the game with our heads held high, knowing that we are a great soccer team that had a fantastic season.” Head coach Peter Kim didn’t feel that the team came out flat on Sunday or that they were dealing with a victory hangover, either. “We were capable of winning both games this weekend, to be sure,” Kim said. “Unfortunately, we had difficulty finishing goals this season, and that ended up being the story of the match on Sunday. We created plenty of chances to score, and should’ve finished a few more than we did.” Middlebury led Sunday’s match in shot attempts, 11–10, but only managed to put two of those on target to the Engineers’ five. Once MIT scored what was to be the only goal of the game in the 22nd minute, the Panthers found themselves playing a frustrating game of catch-up for the rest of the match, colored by shot attempt after shot attempt that seemed to miss by just inches. In the first half, Eliza Robinson ’21 had a free kick sail high and a second attempt corralled by the MIT goalie in the span of a minute. Eliza Van Voorhis ’21 connected with a header from a Barber corner-kick but missed over the crossbar. In the second half, Robinson had another attempt sail just over the top of the goal. Although possession went back and forth, the Panthers were mostly held away from the Engineers’ penalty box. When the official’s whistled sounded to signal MIT’s 1–0 victory, Middlebury’s season was over. On the whole, Kim had some very positive things to offer about the Panthers’ season. “I’ll remember this season as one of resiliency,” Kim said. “We suffered setbacks in a few key games that we felt we should have won, but those results only strengthened our resolve. “I’m impressed by how we battled back and earned a NCAA tournament berth, then played some excellent soccer in Cambridge. We out-possessed and outshot Western Connecticut St. by a large margin and pinned MIT in their own half for significant portions of the game. “It was a heartbreaking way to finish the year,” Kim said, “but the final result doesn’t take away from the effort the players put in. Hopefully younger players learned how hard they have to work in order to succeed, both individually and as a team. As for the seniors, they are largely responsible for the resiliency that this team showed. While a Nescac run would have been fitting for them, they can be very proud of the team that they built. They left a lasting legacy and will be sorely missed.” Barber looked back on the season just as fondly, if not even more so — largely thanks to the close relationships she developed with her teammates over its course. “Since we graduated 11 seniors last year, it was important to reassess our personnel and figure out who was going to fill important roles on the team that were vacated,” Barber said. “I was consistently blown away by the amount of talent on this team, and how deep our bench is. We didn’t just play with 11 starters the whole season, we played with everyone.” But she saved her most touching words for her teammates about to graduate: Huntington, Maddie Morgan ’18, Emma Shumway ’18 and Rebecca Palacios ’18. “Our four seniors have given our team and the soccer program endless dedication, heart and laughs,” Barber said. “They have showed us what it means to work for something you want badly and win, and what it looks like to smile and be grateful in the face of defeat. Alissa, Maddie, Emma and Becca are such special and intelligent individuals, and we will miss them so much as they go off to do amazing things with their lives.”

Planned Parenthood Organizer Speaks at Chellis House

A small group of students met in Chellis House for a information session on Planned Parenthood on Oct. 19. Paige Feeser, the Vermont Public Affairs Organizer for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, led the session. Feminist Action at Middlebury (FAM) hosted the event, reestablishing the Generation Action initiative, the collegiate activist branch of Planned Parenthood. Feeser welcomed the group and, arranging the seats in a circle, shared her own experience working with Planned Parenthood. She admitted that she did not initially feel the same passion for the organization as her colleagues until the Supreme Court struck down the Massachusetts “buffer zone” law in June 2014, siding with abortion opponents. “I really for the first time saw this systemic oppression that is happening in that our country does not fully support women and the choices that they make about their own bodies,” Feeser said. “It was from there that I said I can’t stand idle.“ Feeser then launched into discussion, stating that she wanted to give the group a basic understanding of Planned Parenthood so that they could understand the organization on both a national and local level when talking to other people on campus. She explained that there are three important elements to the organization, the first being healthcare. “We are a trusted healthcare provider, and in fact we’ve been providing healthcare for over a hundred years,” Feeser said. “We provide a wealth of different services, including abortion, but really our focus is both reproductive and sexual health.” The second element is education. “We truly believe that all people should be able to make voluntary choices about their health,” she said. “So we’re providing education during people’s appointments, during counseling sessions, we are providing 24/7 up-to-date information on our website.” Feeser also discussed Planned Parenthood’s peer educator program, which offers high school students sexual education training that they can then use to teach their fellow students. The third element is advocacy, which is a critical piece in ensuring that people have access to healthcare and education services. “Our mission statement is to provide, promote, and protect access to reproductive healthcare and sexuality education so that all people can make voluntary choices about their healthcare,” Feeser said. Feeser also gave a few of Planned Parenthood’s northern New England statistics. “We have 21 health centers across Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Last year we served 41,956 patients,” she said. “The majority of our patients are in their 20s, and that is interesting because it challenges what most people think, that people who use our services the most are in their teens.” There are many other misconceptions about the organization. For example many people assume that patients only go to Planned Parenthood in times of crisis, such as an unplanned pregnancy or STI. But Feeser repeated that the organization offers many different services. “[In the Northern New England branch], abortion care is at six percent, five percent pregnancy testing and five percent other counseling,” she said. “[Health care for transgender individuals] is a service that is up and coming in our health centers, as well as lab-testing.” She also mentioned other services, such as birth control, cancer screenings for both males and females, preconception education, STD preventatives and men’s health care, including erectile dysfunction treatment. Feeser mentioned another myth about who uses services at Planned Parenthood. 87 percent of patients in Northern New England are women and 13 percent are men. “Even amongst our supporters I hear all the time, ‘Planned Parenthood is a women’s organization.’ We’re trying to break that and certainly we are really working to bring more males into our health center, and really putting a focus on LGBT care as well,” Feeser said. Feeser then turned the discussion back to the students and discussed sexual education and awareness in a school environment, a topic that the student organizations have been taking on recently. Natalie Cheung ’18, who attended the session, is working with other students to start a sexual education initiative on campus, but the students who attended Feeser’s talk felt that people should receive sex education before college. FAM president Cara Eisenstein ’18 acknowledged that there are already sex-positive education organizations on campus, but she thinks that increasing this number is important. “I think it’s great that there are a couple of different organizations doing similar and somewhat overlapping things, but with a different main focus, because that way the labor can be divided,” she said.  She also mentioned that FAM and a few other organizations and individuals are working to bring a sex educator from O.School, an online sexual education platform,  to campus in early December. Eisenstein has also been working with Feeser on Planned Parenthood advocacy for the past few months. “I think that as someone from Vermont who is relatively young, Paige is a great window into Planned Parenthood for students at Middlebury [who are interested in being] part of Generation Action,” she said. “I’m really glad we were able to reinstitute Generation Action on campus because it is an important organization for helping young people get involved in the fight for reproductive justice and focusing on advancing the goals of feminism through an intersectional lens.” FAM is incorporating Generation Action into its meetings every Wednesday from 9-10 p.m. in the Chellis House. The club plans to have a tabling event in Proctor within the next few weeks in order to draw attention to current events surrounding reproductive justice.

2–0 Set Lead Slips from Volleyball’s Grasp as Panthers Fall to Polar Bears

In the Nescac tournament this past weekend, the volleyball team fell in the first round to Bowdoin 3–2 (25–22, 25–18, 17–25, 25–27, 10–15) on Friday, Nov. 3. The match at Tufts, a neutral site, was close throughout, marking a heartbreaking end to the Panther’s season. With a 9–8 lead in the opening set, the Panthers strung together a 4–0 run that included a pair of kills from Eliana Schaefer ’18. Their lead ballooned to as great as six, 17–11, before the Polar Bears clawed their way back to a three point-deficit. Middlebury countered, using three kills by Sarah Staver ’19 to put together a 6–1 run and take a commanding 23–15 lead. Bowdoin surged back, winning the next five points before a Becca Raffel ’18 kill stopped the run. Emily Kolodka ‘18 ended the set moments later with a kill of her own to seal the set for Middlebury. In the second set the Panthers again used a 4-0 run to give themselves a lead 12–7 behind two kills from Isabel Sessions ’19. Bowdoin returned fire to, once again, bring themselves to within three, but a block by Alice Roberts ’18 put the Panthers back up by four. Middlebury won five of the next seven points to achieve a two-set lead. In the set, they limited the Polar Bears to a hitting percentage below .200 while hitting .400 themselves. In the third set, at an 8–8 tie, Bowdoin went on a run to go ahead 16–10. Sessions used a kill to bring the Panthers to within five at 18–13, but the Polar Bears retaliated by winning the next six points, eventually taking the third set. In the fourth, Middlebury jumped out to a quick 5–1 lead but was on the wrong end of a 10-2 streak and went down 11–7. The rest of the set was a back and forth affair, seeing ties at 14 apiece, 15, 16, 21, and 24. Down to set point at 24–25, Emma Walsh ’21 recorded a kill to extend the set, but Bowdoin won the next two points to even the match. Bowdoin went ahead in the final set after a 6–1 run to put them up 9–4. Middlebury was unable to recover, as the Polar Bears took the final set 15–10 and the match as well. Sessions led the attack with 17 kills, while Raffel (11) and Staver (10) also had double-digit kills. Walsh paced the Panthers with 39 assists and added 10 digs while Alper secured a team-high 16 digs. Sessions had a career year, demolishing her season-high of kills, 273 in 2016, with 304 this year. Walsh made a splash in her first year with 512 assists, and her 9.48 assists per set ranked third in the Nescac. Another first-year, Shea Golden ’21, ranked in the top five in the conference in service aces per set with 0.43. Staver contributed 78 blocks on the season to lead the team with Schaefer just behind with 76. Seniors Raffel, Kolodka, Roberts, and Schaefer finish their four year careers with a 64–37 record and one Nescac championship in 2016. Raffel ends her career fifth place all-time on the Panther kill leaderboard with 1,163 over her four years. Although the season did not end as hoped, Raffel has nothing but good memories of her career, “The past four years have been an incredible experience playing for MCVB and I’m excited to see what the team accomplishes in the future.” Roberts finishes with 473 kills while Kolodka leaves with 1,163 career digs to place her ninth in program history. Schaefer capped off her career with a career-season and totaled 449 kills and 162 assists in her time in a Panther uniform. “The seniors have contributed in every way this season, fostering a family like dynamic that is evident on and off the court,” said Alper about her departing teammates. “We will miss the four seniors immensely next year but we are so excited to see what they will accomplish next. We are fueled to take back the NESCAC title in their honor.” Coach Sarah Raunecker said the seniors were “the backbone of the team. All four were starters and major contributors to the box score, but on top of that, they were great teammates.” While their contributions on the court cannot be understated, their attributes off it were just as impressive. “I’m so proud of them,” said Raunecker. “I think it’s says a lot about the respect they’ve garnered over their careers that all four were selected for the NEWVA Senior Classic honoring the top seniors in New England. We will have some big holes to fill next year, both offensively and defensively. I’m really going to miss them.”

The Best Two Teams Met, and Chaos Ensued: Rob’s World Series Facts

On November 1, 2017, the Houston Astros of the American League defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers of the National League 5–1 in Game 7 of the World Series, capping off a captivating championship matchup that featured some of the most exciting playoff baseball that fans of the game have seen in years. Here, we’d like to look back on a few of the factors that made this hard-fought battle so uniquely exciting. —2017 marked the first time in the free agent era (i.e. from 1976 onward) that two 100+ win teams faced off in the World Series. The last such meeting took place in 1970 between the Baltimore Orioles and the Cincinnati Reds. —Coincidentally, Los Angeles and Houston are arguably the two Major League teams that rely most heavily on advanced analytics to run their teams. The Dodgers, for example, distributed cards to each of their outfielders that not only told them where to stand for each different batter in the Astros’ lineup, but also factored in for the different pitchers that the Dodgers were using as well. —Los Angeles had only lost one playoff game coming into the World Series, a 3–2 defeat at the hands of Jake Arrieta and the Chicago Cubs in Game 4 of the NLCS (the Dodgers won Game 5 to take the series four games to one). They won the rest of their playoff games by two runs or more. The Astros, on the other hand, had faced a bit of a tougher road: three of their seven playoff wins prior to the World Series were decided by only one run, and they had to climb back from a 3–2 deficit in the ALCS to defeat the New York Yankees in seven games. —That being said, both teams had at least one thing in common: neither had lost a home game in the playoffs thus far. But when it came to the World Series, the Astros would take wins on the road from the Dodgers — Games 2 and 7 — and Los Angeles would win game 4 on Houston’s home turf. —On October 24, the recorded temperature for the first pitch of Game 1 was 103 degrees Fahrenheit. The hottest World Series game on record before that? October 27, Game 1 of the 2001 World Series, New York Yankees at the Arizona Diamondbacks: 94 degrees. —Before Game 2 of this season, the Dodgers were 98–0 when in the lead at the top of the 9th inning. A big part of that equation was their closer, Kenley Jensen: he had converted 41 of 42 save opportunities, sported a 1.32 ERA and a 15.57 strikeout/walk ratio, and held opposing batters to a .177 average. However, Jansen blew the lead in Game 2 by giving up a solo Marwin Gonzalez home run in the ninth inning, allowing the Astros to knot the score at 3–3. —But, Game 2 was remarkable for reasons beyond that as well. The Dodgers and Astros combined to hit eight home runs over the course of the game, a World Series record. What’s more, five of those home runs came in extra innings: Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa of the Astros hit back-to-back shots in the top of the tenth, to which Yasiel Puig responded with one of his own in the bottom of the inning. George Springer responded for Houston with a two-run bomb in the top of the 11th, and although Charlie Culberson tried to bring the Dodgers back with a solo blast in the bottom of the 11th, it ultimately wasn’t enough as Los Angeles fell, 7–6. —Game 5, a ten-inning, 25-run affair, saw the Dodgers slip from the lead on three separate occasions, defy expectations by coming back from a three-run deficit in the top of the ninth inning to tie the game, and ultimately to blow it in the bottom of the 10th. The losing pitcher? Kenley Jansen. —Down 3–2 in the series, Los Angeles looked to be down for the count: the Astros had won every single game that Justin Verlander (their Game 6 pitcher) had started since they added him to the roster on August 31. Verlander took a 1–0 lead into the sixth inning, having only allowed one hit to that point. However, he gave up two runs on the inning and the Astros went on to lose, 3–1. —Game 7 was undoubtedly the most boring matchup of the series. After scoring two runs in the first inning and three in the second, the Astros more or less cruised to a 5–1 victory to seal the first World Series title since the club’s foundation in 1962. The only other game that had been decided by more than two runs was Game 4, a 6–2 Dodger victory. Even so, that one was tied 1–1 before Los Angeles scored five runs in the top of the ninth inning. —The Astros and Dodgers combined to hit 25 home runs in the 2017 World Series, shattering the old record of 21. George Springer, the World Series MVP, accounted for five of those home runs by himself, also a World Series record. —Brandon Morrow of the Dodgers quietly became just the second pitcher to appear in all seven games of a World Series. But he wasn’t the only member of the Los Angeles bullpen to see heavy usage: head coach Dave Roberts made a record 32 pitching changes over the seven-game series. —Cody Bellinger, the likely NL Rookie of the Year, struck out a record 17 times — almost 2.5 per game — in the World Series, blowing past the old World Series record of 13 and the playoff series record of 16 set by Aaron Judge in the ALCS. —Both teams smelled something fishy about the World Series, sort of. Pitchers for the Dodgers and the Astros alike (most notably Los Angeles’ Clayton Kershaw and Yu Darvish and Houston’s Verlander), as well as their pitching coaches, claimed that the baseballs used in the 2017 World Series were slicker than those employed during the regular season. This allegedly gave them the most amount of trouble with their sliders: conspiracy theorists point to the fact that Kershaw, Darvish, and Verlander all used that pitch with much less success than usual in the series.

Panthers Refuse to Give Up Seat

On the last home game of the season and final home contest for the Class of 2018, the football team routed Hamilton 41–20 after scoring the game’s first 41 points on Saturday, Nov. 4. Middlebury kept hold of the “rocking chair” by defeating the Continentals for the 22nd-straight time in the rivalry. Hamilton deferred the toss, deciding to kick it off to a dangerous Jimmy Martinez ’19, who returned the ball 21 yards to the Middlebury 31-yard line. Two plays later, Jake Meservy ’19, who took over the offensive reins after a season ending knee injury to starting quarterback Jared Lebowitz, connected with Martinez on a 65-yard bomb. Carter Massengill ’20 completed the extra point and the hosts were off to a 7–0 lead, 45 seconds into the contest. Three plays later, on Hamilton’s first possession, Kevin Maxwell ’19 forced a fumble, which Middlebury’s John Jackson ’18 recovered on Hamilton’s 37-yard line. On the ensuing play, Peter Scibilia ’21 rushed 15 yards out of bounds to the Hamilton 22, which set up a fantastic look for Meservy. He once again connected with Martinez for the duo’s second touchdown. Massengill completed the kick and Middlebury led 14–0 fewer than 2 minutes into the contest. The Continentals attempted to move the chains on their next drive, but they failed. After a Hamilton punt, Middlebury started the drive on its own 16-yard line and marched to the Hamilton 31, aided by a Continental offside penalty. From there, Meservy threw his only interception of the game, but Hamilton could not capitalize on them mishap and punted again. The punt travelled to the Hamilton 45 , and Kevin Hopsicker ’18 returned it twelve yards, setting Middlebury up in excellent field position. Meservy rushed for 13 yards and the offense tacked on 15 more thanks to a Hamilton pass interference penalty, placing the Panthers at the Hamilton four-yard line. Dropping back in the pocket, Merservy found Scibilia for a four-yard reception and his third touchdown pass of the afternoon. Massengill missed the extra point, but the hosts held a 20–0 lead at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, the two teams struggled for field position, with neither team mustering anything more than a punt for the first five minutes. At the eight-minute mark, however, Middlebury’s defense turned it up a notch. Hamilton quarterback Sam Foley tried to rush for one yard on a fourth-and-one play, but was stopped at the line of scrimmage. Before he was downed, Maxwell forced his second fumble of the game. Wesley Becton ’18 recovered the ball at the Hamilton 45-yard line and took it all the way to the house to give Middlebury a 27–0 lead. On the ensuing Hamilton drive, Foley was sacked for a four-yard loss by Jackson. On the play, Foley fumbled, which was recovered by Aaron Slodowitz ’18. At the opposing 26-yard line, the Panthers were pushed back 10 yards thanks to a holding penalty. Meservy took the penalty in stride, answering with a 36-yard pass to Frank Cosolito ’20 for his sixth career touchdown and Merservy’s fourth and final of the day. “Personally, the Hamilton game was a huge confidence boost for me, especially after getting my first start the previous week against one of the best teams in this conference,” said Meservy, who left the game after Middlebury took a 34–0 lead. “It was a really awesome feeling to see Jimmy [Martinez] make a perfect catch and then run down into the end zone to celebrate. Ever since the loss to Trinity, we’ve been eager to make a statement — the Hamilton game gave us that opportunity. I think that the first touchdown coming on the second play of the game helped us get ahead and stay head.” After throwing the fourth touchdown, I was just so happy that I was able to help send the seniors out with a win on Senior Day; especially guys like Dan, Kasirye, and Lebowitz, who would’ve given anything to be able to play on Saturday.” Hamilton could not get on the board the entire first half and they struggled to compete with the Panthers’ offense. With a minute and fifty seconds left in the first half, Will Jernigan ’21 went under center for a shot at the Continentals’ struggling defense. Starting at their own 33-yard line, Jernigan completed an 11-yard pass to Tanner Contois ’18 and a 30-yard pass to Martinez giving the Panthers position at the Hamilton 17. After completing a pass to Conrado Banky ’19 for 12 yards to get to the Hamilton five-yard line, the Panthers called a timeout. And with seven seconds left in the half, the Jernigan found Banky again from five yards out, giving the hosts a 41-0 lead and their final touchdown. Hamilton managed to score three times in the fourth quarter. Their first touchdown came on a four-play, 69-yard possession, but they missed the extra point. They scored again five minutes later on a 6 play, 66-yard possession. Hamilton tried to go for the two-point conversion, but their attempt failed and the hosts maintained a 41–12 lead. The Continental’s final score came around the two-minute mark. Starting at the Middlebury 22-yard line, after a 30-yard punt return, Foley completed a pass 16 yards and a subsequent six-yard pass to Joe Schmidt. Foley completed the two-yard conversion and the final score of the game concluded with a Middlebury win, 41–20. Meservy finished with 212 yards on 11-16 pass attempts and four touchdowns, while Jernigan went 4–6 for 58 yards. Martinez caught three passes for 117 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Jackson had a fulfilling day on defense, finishing with nine tackles, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a sack. Becton finished closely behind Jackson with seven tackles, an interception and a touchdown after a recovered fumble. The Panthers close out their season on Saturday, November 11th against Tufts (5–3). With a win, Middlebury would end the season 7–2. If Amherst loses to Williams and Trinity loses to Wesleyan, Middlebury, Amherst, Trinity and Wesleyan would all earn a share of the Nescac championship with records of 7–2. The last time there was a tie for the Nescac championship was 2013 when Amherst, Middlebury and Wesleyan tied for the crown.

Without Lebowitz, Football Falls to an Undefeated Trinity

On Homecoming weekend, a day filled with returning alums, friends and family, the Middlebury Panthers fell to 5–2 after a 27–5 loss to Trinity College Bantams on Saturday, October, 29. At times they squad look ed promising, but Trinty proved to be well seasoned and ready to extend their 15-game win streak. On the opening drive, the Bantams took the ball 79 yards on 11 plays for the first score taking an early 7–0 lead. Panthers responded with their own score as Connor Massengill ’19 connected from 28 yards out, cutting into the guests’ 7–3 advantage. Diego Meritus ’19 led the drive with 7 carries while Jake Merservy ’19 completed several passes to bring his team to Trinity’s six-yard line. After Jared Lebowitz ’18 suffered a season-ending knee injury in the 47–14 victory over Bates College, Merservy took the reins at quarterback. Unfortunately, the Panthers could not muster their offense and the defense could only contain the Bantams, a team, at that point, had a 15-game winning streak. In the second quarter, the Trinity pulled away a little more, scoring four minutes into the second quarter, extending their lead 14–3. Sonny Puzzo led the Bantams down the field, racking up close to 50 rushing yards and aided by a Middlebury face mask penalty. At the ten-minute mark, Matt Daniel ’19 blocked a punt at Trinity’s 28-yard line Ian Blow ’18 picked the loose ball up and returned in 13-yards to the Bantam five-yard line. The drive looked promising until the Panthers turned it over on downs, four plays later. And in a twist of fate, the Bantams, on the first play of their drive, fumbled. The ball hopped around the edge of the goal line, dangling between the fingertips of several players and was picked up by Puzzo and then tackled for a loss and a two-point safety by Robert Wood ’18. The defensive unit looked promising, Jourdon Delerme-Brown ’20 backed up his claim saying, “defense is always a fun side of the ball on this team. Everyone loves playing together so the mentality is to just continue to play together regardless of who we play and we tried to do that in this game.” Unfortunately, the defense received no help from their offensive brethren. Leading 14–5, the Bantams did not look back, recording two field goals and a score in the final two quarters. For Middlebury, a couple of drives looked promising, as Merservy tried to rally his offensive. With eight minutes left in the fourth quarter and the ball on their own 45-yard line, the Panthers marched up the field. He completed a pass to Maxwell Rye ’19 for 17 yards, rushed for several yards himself and handed the ball off to Drew Jacobs ’18 who rushed for 22 yards on four carries — but could not complete the job as the final play of the drive resulted in an incomplete pass to Conrado Banky ’19. Middlebury seeks to bounce back with two games remaining in their season. On Saturday, they will compete against the Hamilton Continentals for their final home game before heading down to Connecticut to face the Tufts Jumbos.

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Football Falls on Last-second TD

Hosting the Williams Purple Ephs on Saturday, Oct. 14, the Middlebury Panthers dropped a nail-biting contest that came down to the final six seconds of play. Middlebury dominated the first half of play, much as they have done in the rest of their games to this point. The Panthers burst out of the gate from the opening kickoff, as Jared Lebowitz ’18 found Maxwell Rye ’20 from 19 yards out to cap their first drive of the game with a touchdown. Rye’s touchdown was set up by several rushes by Peter Scibilia ’21 and Diego Meritus ’19, who returned after missing the first four weeks of the season with an injured quad. Carter Massengill ’20 converted the extra point and the hosts jumped out to 7–0 lead with 11 minutes left in the first. Eight minutes later, Rye flipped the field with a brilliant punt that went 72 yards and was downed at the Williams one-yard line. The Purple Eph’s offense was unable to move the ball given the tough starting field position, amounting in a three-and-out. With no room to maneuver, Adam Regensburg’s punt attempt was blocked by John Jackson ’18 for a safety, tacking two points onto the hosts’ lead in the final scoring play of the first quarter. In the second quarter, the sole score came from Massengill’s 25 yard-field goal attempt. His opportunity was set up by an 11-play drive by Lebowitz and his offense, giving the hosts a 12–0 lead at the break. Most notably, Lebowitz connected with Jimmy Martinez ’19 and Rye for 29 yards each. The ensuing seven minutes before the half flew by without a score. In the third quarter, the Panthers sniffed the end zone on several occasions, finishing at the Williams nine-yard line after 13 plays, but Massengill could not complete the 25-yard field goal attempt that sailed wide left. While Williams cut into the Panthers’ lead on their ensuing eight-play 80-yard touchdown drive that earned the Ephs their first points of the day, the Panthers answered right back. Lebowitz led the team on a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that was highlighted by a 40-yard completion to Rye. The Lebowitz-to-Rye connection set-up a Lebowitz two-yard pass Scibilia for a touchdown. Middlebury led 19–7 heading into the fourth quarter and everything was looking up for a Panthers offense that had dominated to that point. They even tacked-on an additional touchdown after Williams cut the lead to 19–14, as Lebowitz and company drove 59 yards in just over three minutes. Leading 26–14 and ten minute, the Panthers looked to hold off the Purple Eph’s down the crucial stretch. Williams’ quarterback, however, answered efficiently and quickly. Middlebury’s defense saw the 12-point cushion erased after the Ephs marched 75 yards on 11 plays, ending in another touchdown. With four minutes left on the clock, Middlebury went to work trying to add an insurance score to preserve a victory and an undefeated record. Starting at their own 28-yard line, Lebowitz handed the ball to Scibilia and Meritus to run the clock out. The Panthers even received some help from Williams’ defense, gaining 15 yards on a personal foul. However, the Panthers could not move the chains and were forced to punt from their own 48-yard line, giving Williams’ duel-threat quarterback the ball with 2:19 left on the clock at their own 20-yard line. Williams found their way down the field and, with time running out, Bobby Maimaron stepped up into the pocket, firing a rocket into the open hands of Frank Stola in the end zone for the Williams victory. Alumni Stadium went silent while the Williams bench charged onto the field, celebrating their upset victory. After the loss, Meritus talked about the importance of moving passed a loss that will be sure to linger with the Panthers. “Instead of running away from that feeling we felt after Saturday’s loss, we need to embrace all that energy and use it to motivate us to get better. “A loss is a loss,” Meritus said. “We can’t change what happened, but we can change what we do from here. And that means we have to win out.” Though the Panthers took the loss, Middlebury outgained Williams 432–378, as 304 passing from Lebowitz. Rye finished the day with 133 receiving yards while Meritus and Scibilia combined for 64 yards on the ground. With three games left in their season, the Panthers look to resume their win streak and finish with no more defeats. The biggest game left on the schedule, and a contest that both teams have certainly circled, is the Saturday, Oct. 28, date at Alumni Stadium when Middlebury will host undefeated Trinity — and on Homecoming Weekend, no less. It will be a decisive matchup with serious Nescac title implications. But for now, the Panthers head back on the road to Bates on Saturday, Oct. 21.

Men’s and Women’s Tennis Holds Own in Cambridge

The men’s and women’s teams continued their fall seasons last weekend, playing from Friday to Sunday, Oct. 13 to 15. This weekend completes the men’s fall season, but the women are looking on to the annual Middlebury Invitational here at Procter Tennis courts next weekend. The men’s team competed at the MIT Invitational at the duPont Tennis Courts and the J.B. Carr Tennis Bubble, amongst 64 participants in the main singles draw and 32 pairs in the doubles bracket. The Panthers had multiple strong plays in the singles main draw. William de Quant ’18, the No. 3 seed, advanced to the final for the second-straight year, and Kyle Schlanger ’18 played strongly to make it to the semifinal. De Quant claimed five victories over the course of the tournament, defeating Jayson Fung of Amherst 6–2, 4–6, 6–4 in the first round and then Jackson Kogan of Brandeis 7–5, 6–4 in the round of 32. He soundly defeated Bowdoin’s Gil Roddy 6–3, 6–3 and MIT’s Charles Deng 6–4, 6–0 to advance to the semifinal. There he went up against teammate Schlanger, whom he edged out 6–2, 6–4 to proceed to the final. In the end, he fell after a fight to Williams’ Austin Barr 6–3, 5–7, 6–0. Schlanger started his tournament well with a victory over MIT’s Victor Cheng (6–1, 6–2), and continued playing strong against Ananth Raghavan of Williams (7–5, 6–1) in the round of 32. Schlanger went head to head with teammate Noah Farrell ’19 in the round of 16, edging him out 6–3, 0–6, 6–2. He blew through the quarterfinal with a 6–1, 6–0 win over No. 7 seed Andrew Finkelman of Wesleyan before finishing his run against de Quant in the semifinal. Farrell, the No. 2 seed, and Nate Eazor ’21 both returned home with two straight-set victories in the main draw. Farrell soundly defeated Justin Patel of Bowdoin 6–2, 6–0 in the first round and Nikhil Das of Brandeis 6–1, 7–5 in the second round. Eazor first cruised past the No. 4 seed, MIT’s Tyler Barr 6–3, 6–4 and then Danny Coran of Tufts 6–2, 6–4. Timo van der Geest claimed four victories to win the backdraw title, making short work of Ethan Hillis of Amherst in the final with a score of 6–3, 6–4. In addition to the singles draw, four Panther doubles teams competed in the main doubles draw. All dropped their opening-round match. Meanwhile, the women’s team went up against three Division I opponents in the Harvard Fall Scramble at the Beren Tennis Center. Harvard, Rhode Island, Seton Hall, and Middlebury competed in a form of hidden duals, consisting of three doubles and six to seven singles per round. On Friday, the Panthers faced Seton Hall. The team of Heather Boehm ’20 and Molly Paradies ’19 grabbed a 6–1 win over Anniek Jansen and Krista Cerpina. Boehm prevailed in her singles match as well, making a comeback and defeating Melody Tall 3–6, 6–2, 6–4. Teammate Maddi Stow ’20 triumphed over Jansen with a score of 6–1, 6–0, and Emily Bian ’21 took a victory over Krista Cerpina with a score of 6–4, 2–6, 3–0. The Panthers eventually lost the day 4–3. The Panthers faced Rhode Island on Saturday, and won all seven of their matches. The doubles team of Katherine Hughes ’20 and Skylar Schossberger ’20 won 6–2 over Rachel Smilansky and Halah Davis. Ann Martin Skelly ’21 and Stow defeated Mihaela Codreanu and Paige Alshon 6–2, and Bian and Paradies grabbed a victory 6–4 over Ariel Haber and Nicole Legler. In singles play, Boehm defeated Codreanu in an intense game 6–4, 2–6, 10–2, while Hughes claimed a victory over Smilansky (7–6, 6–4). Paradies won her match against Haber 6–2, 6–3, and Schossberger edged out Davis in 6–3, 7–6. Stow eased past Alshon 6–1, 6–0, and Skelley cruised to a win against Legler 6–2, 6–0. The Panthers won the day 7–0. The final day faced Harvard, with the doubles team of Hughes and Schossberger picking up the sole win in a 6–1 victory over Irene Lu and Lexi Milunovich. The women’s team will return to action at home this Friday to Sunday, Oct. 20 to 22, when it hosts the Middlebury Invitational in its final tournament of the fall season.

Volleyball Drops Two in Maine, Falling to Fifth in NESCAC

The Panther volleyball team played faced a tough slate of matches last Friday and Saturday that saw the team drop a pair of Nescac games to Tufts and Bowdoin before prevailing over The University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMPI). The Panthers (14–5, 5–3) now sit at fifth in the conference but still have to play Williams and Hamilton, the teams sandwiching them in the standings. On Friday, Middlebury travelled to Tufts in what was a rematch of last season’s conference tournament final where the Panthers triumphed over the heavily favored Jumbos. Once again, the two teams played a tightly contested match but the Panthers ended up losing in four sets (19–25, 25–15, 21–25, 23–25). In the opening set, the Jumbos started with a 7–3 run but lost the lead during a 5–3 run by the Panthers which concluded with two Becca Raffel ’18 kills. Tufts, however, regained the lead and never looked back, taking the opening set. In the second, however, Middlebury controlled the tempo. A Tufts attack error and two Elana Schaefer ’18 kills gave the Panthers a quick 2–0 lead. Later, after being down 15–10, Tufts climbed back in the game, bringing the score to 16–13. Middlebury, capitalizing on numerous service and attack errors by the Jumbos, went on a 9–2 run taking the set to even the match at one game apiece. In the ensuing set the Jumbos once again started hot, this time jumping out to a 7–3 lead. However, the Panthers fought back to bring the match to within one point and for the remainder of the set Tufts never led by more than two—that is, until Middlebury seized the lead, 19–18, and the hosts scored the next six points capped off by a Middlebury service error. What proved to be the ultimate set once again fell into a similar pattern. The Panthers took a 2–0 lead on two Tufts attack errors. After a Jumbos point, Middlebury extended the lead to 4–1 on two more Tufts attack errors but the Jumbos were able to knot the match at 8 and, thereafter, the teams largely traded points—there were seven lead changes and 11 ties. The Panthers simply did not have enough in the tank and ended up losing the final two points after the set was tied at 23. There were bright spots though for the Panthers. Alice Roberts ’18 tallied a season-high 12 kills while Middlebury had more service aces than Tufts (Raffel had two while Gigi Alper ’20, Emma Walsh ’21 and Shea Golden ’21 each notched one). Golden also contributed 11 digs while Alper led the team with 17. Continuing their road-trip, the squad drove two hours to Brunswick, Maine, where they split a doubleheader against the Polar Bears and UMPI. Middlebury lost the Nescac matchup in straight sets (21–25, 17–25, 22–25) but managed to turn around and absolutely smoke non-conference UMPI in straight sets (25–6, 25–15, 25–18). Middlebury never found their groove against Bowdoin, a team that has given the Panthers trouble over the last few years. On the bright side, Raffel continued to dominate the competition with 11 kills and 16 digs. Alper managed to finish with a match-high 23 digs. Following the Nescac losses, Schaefer believes the team needs to continue to compete. While a losing streak can be tough to overcome, her team needs to push themselves. “We need to step up our game in order to set ourselves up to be in the best position possible for Nescacs,” said Schaefer. UMPI, however, did not provide a challenge for the Panthers, who easily shook off their losing streak. The Panthers held UMPI to .091 hitting percentage and a single block, while Middlebury saw .355 and seven blocks. Golden led the match in service aces (4), Sessions in kills (10), and Ferdinand in assists (27). “We are looking forward to regrouping and using this weekend’s non-conference competition to prepare for our final league games of the season,” Alper said. This weekend’s New England Challenge will be an excellent opportunity to right the ship and prepare for their final weekend of Nescac play for the Panthers. With only two weeks remaining before the postseason, the Panthers look to get back their competitive fire that led them to the 10-game win streak that they were in the middle of just a week ago.

Men’s Soccer Sinks Trinity

The Nescac fourth-ranked men’s soccer team (9–4, 4–4) earned their third consecutive 1–0 win against Trinity (3–9–1, 1–7–1) last Saturday, Oct. 14. The win came on what would be coach David Saward’s last guaranteed home weekend game; over 40 Middlebury soccer alumni, accompanied by hordes of students and parents, gathered on the sidelines to celebrate the win and Saward’s impressive career. The opening half proved an offensive challenge for both teams. Fans were happy to see junior Daniel O’Grady take the field after missing two weeks of action with a partially torn meniscus. Despite having no shots on goal, Middlebury had a good chance on a cross from Drew Goulart ’20 which found the foot of Kye Moffat ’19 in the Bantam penalty area. Moffat’s close range shot drove just high of the crossbar, leaving the game scoreless going into the second half. In the 60th minute, the Panthers were awarded free kick just outside the Trinity penalty area, which Ben Potter ’20 rocketed towards the goal, but Trinity goalkeeper Mateo Zabala was able to punch the shot over the crossbar. The resulting corner-kick would put the ball back in the Bantam penalty area, eventually finding Brandon Reid ’21, who was able to settle it in the top-left corner of the box. Facing away from the goal, he pivoted quickly on the ball and let a shot lace between two defenders, finding the upper-right corner on the net and leaving Midd on top 1–0 with 28 minutes remaining. Excellent defense from the backline and two saves from goalie Jeremy Yeager ’18 would be enough to notch their seventh shutout performance in 13 games. “Over the last three games our defense has really stepped up for us,” said Yeager. “We are staying organized and compact in the back, and we have done really well at limiting the opposition to very few threatening opportunities. Our midfielders have also done a great job of winning 50/50 balls and pressing to win the ball back.” Middlebury snagged a 1–0 non-conference win last Wednesday, Oct. 11, over Castleton with a goal from Drew Goulart and 3 saves from Yeager. The Panthers will face Bates (5–4–2, 1–4–2) this Saturday, Oct. 21, for their final regular-season away game.

2017-2018 Print Issues

Volume 116, Number 1 Volume 116, Number 2 Volume 116, Number 3 Volume 116, Number 4 Volume 116, Number 5 Volume 116, Number 6 Volume 116, Number 7 Volume 116, Number 8 Volume 116, Number 9 Volume 116, Number 10 Volume 116, Number 11 Volume 116, Number 12 Volume 116, Number 13

The Danish String Quartet

On Saturday, Oct. 7, the Danish String Quartet played Bela Bartok’s First String Quartet, Sz. 40 Op. 7, Beethoven’s Seventh String Quartet, Op. 59 No. 1, subtitled “Razumovsky” for their Russian patron, and a collection of folk tunes arranged by the quartet. They encored a piece by a contemporary Danish composer. The rest of the wonderful folk tunes they played are on the quartet’s new CD, titled “Last Leaf.” The program said that this ensemble only plays music they enjoy playing, a statement I would not have believed before hearing their lively performance. The best parts of yesterday’s performance were those moments when a new theme, usually a folk theme, entered the music, and the players traded it among their instruments, clearly enjoying their performance. Despite the length of the concert, which started at 8 and ended at 10:30, I was never unhappy to be there. The concert started with Bartok’s quartet, a continuous 30-minute mass of music which sometimes seemed to descend into Schoenberg-esque atonality only to recover into an Hungarian folk tune. Divided into three movements, lento, allegretto, and allegro vivace, the piece was a good one for the beginning of a concert. It takes a considerable amount of effort to derive meaning from listening to it, and people are usually the most alert at the beginning of concerts. The cellist spoke briefly about the latent programmatic content in its composition: Bartok was not succeeding as a composer, had failed to attract a spouse, and had escaped to the countryside to collect folk melodies. This explanation helped to ease the toughness of the music, which oscillated wildly between Late-Romantic extended tonality and rough-hewn folk melodies. This odd mixture of styles and influences provided many opportunities for the players to shine, and they did. Whenever a new folk melody entered the contrapuntal mass, that line stood out immediately, for whoever was playing did so with a specific zeal, the sort that only appears when one is really passionate about something. The recording of these would not do this quartet justice as viewing the players live adds an intangible quality to the performance which makes going to such concerts worth the cost in the first place. Next, the quartet played their folk melodies. There is less to say here about the concert itself and more about what they played and how they played it. It is rare that a quartet plays something so outside the standard repertoire. Even some of the more adventurous items from last year like Berg’s Lyric Suite can be found at several concerts per year, but these folk tunes were truly unique. Allison Carroll, director of the Performing Arts Series Society, said it took three years to book this quartet because their performance schedule is set years in advance. She said the reason she wanted this particular quartet so much was because they play these folk melodies. Not only were the melodies excellent music on their own, the particular zeal with which the quartet played could inspire anyone to share this music with their friends whether they usually listen to classical music or not. The deeply-set rhythmic qualities of these pieces make them accessible to the uninitiated. After the intermission was Beethoven’s quartet. This canonical classical piece uses a Russian folk theme in its fourth movement. The first movement begins with a wonderful rousing theme played first by the cello and then by the first violin. It moves and develops well in some sort of sonata form, but this is one of those pieces where it is difficult to tell just where the development section ends. The second movement is a scherzo by most meanings of that word: it is funny, it feels like Bartok is toying with his audience, and the players smiled throughout it. If the descriptions of the first two movements seem brief, it is because the third movement seemed so long in comparison. This was another movement where it was difficult to tell the exact contours of the sections, but the overall effect was profound. The moment the music transitioned from the funeral march of the third movement to folk music in the fourth was one of the most moving of the night. This moment exemplified how enjoyable it was to see the players trade the same theme amongst each other. October continues to be a promising month for classical concerts, with soloist Soovin Kim performing Bach’s partitas this Friday, Oct. 13, and the Heath Quartet performing Friday, Oct 27. Both of these PASS events will take place in Robison Hall.

Football Earns Mammoth Victory

The football team is 4–0 after beating the previously undefeated Amherst Mammoths 35–31 in a game that came down to the final minutes on Saturday, Oct. 7. It was not the prettiest of games, as Middlebury finished with under 300 total yards, 200 fewer than the Panther onslaught of Colby two Saturdays ago. The Panthers grinded it out though, especially with help from their defense, which put up 14 of the Panthers’ 35 points. Amherst scored first in the remaining two minutes of the first quarter by going 53 yards in 11 plays then kicking a field goal to take a 3–0 lead. Jared Lebowitz ’18 started Middlebury’s next drive on its own 19-yard line with 1:56 left in the first quarter. He continued into the second, dashing 14 yards to the Amherst 44. Then he completed a short pass to Maxim Bochman ’20, aided by a Mammoth penalty, and found Frank Cosolito ’20, who is back from an injury, to move the football to the Amherst 30. Lebowitz completed another pass to Cosolito and completed the 17-play, 81-yard and six and half minute drive with a dart to Bachman from eight yards out to give Middlebury a 7–3 lead. On the subsequent possession, Mammoths quarterback Reece Foy was sacked for a big loss of 10-yards by Matthew Daniel ’19. Two plays later, Kevin Hopsicker ’18 jumped the receiver’s route, intercepted the pigskin and took it 32 yards for the second score of the quarter. Carter Massengill ’20 completed the extra point and the guests took a 14–3 lead with nine minutes left in the first half. But the defense was still not done. Two series later, Amherst was pinned at its own 13-yard line. This time, Wesley Becton ’18 intercepted Foy’s pass and took it 13 yards to the house, giving the Panthers a commanding 21-3 lead. As if that was not enough for the Amherst Mammoths, the ensuing kickoff gave the Panthers even more fuel to add to the offensive fire. A 61-yard kickoff by Massengill was returned 11 yards, until Jonathan Hobart ’21 forced and recovered the fumble at the Amherst 15. Though Lebowitz was called for intentional grounding, he made up for it and connected with Cosolito from 27 yards out for Middlebury’s fourth score of the quarter and a 28–3 lead. The Mammoths managed a score late in the second quarter after their ground game dominated the series. Massengill’s kickoff was returned 30 yards to the Amherst 41 and the next four plays were all running, amounting in a 34-yard rushing by Jack Hickey. Middlebury held a comfortable 28–10 lead heading into the third quarter. Starting the third quarter on their own 33, the Panthers were unable to move the chains and were forced to punt. Maxwell Rye ’20 booted the ball 47 yards, while 12 more yards were tacked on due to a holding penalty. Field position did not matter this time, as Mammoths tailback Hasani Figueroa took a pitch pass 74 yards down the left sideline, cutting the Middlebury lead to 11. The next 12 minutes were a defensive battle as neither team gave up a touchdown and the contest headed into the fourth. The Panthers scored their last touchdown at the start of the fourth, when Lebowitz found Conrado Banky ’19 from 31 yards out. Massengill connected for his fifth and final extra point and Middlebury took a 35-17 lead. “Our offense stuck to what we’ve done well in all the games we’ve played this season,” said Kevin Woodring ’20. “We held onto the ball, were efficient in our passing game and were able to move the ball on the ground at the end of the game. Overall, our defense allowed us to play the way we know how to and it amounted to a win.” Amherst continued to claw back, scoring at the 11-minute mark on a 7 play 55-yard drive and once again at the eight-minute mark. Amherst final score was an 81-yard bomb from Ollie Berth to James O’Regan to bring the hosts within four. But when the Panther defense needed to, it buckled down and that team in purple could not find another opportunity to score. Middlebury improved to 4–0 with a 35–31 win over its previously undefeated rival. With their undefeated season on the line, the Panther defense returned to what gave the team success in the first half. “We wanted to be aware of complacency and wanted to do our best to eliminate it at all costs,” said defensive back Jourdon Delerme-Brown ’20. “That simply meant for us to relax and begin re-executing the game plan. Once we took the score out of it and just played the game play-by-play, we were back in control.” Middlebury will have another tough matchup this Saturday, Oct. 14, when it hosts Williams (3–1) on Youngman Field at Alumni Stadium. The Ephs only loss came at the hands of defending Nescac champion Trinity (4–0).

Women’s Golf Takes Third at Taconic to Finish Fall Season

The women’s golf team took to Route 7 and headed south last weekend toward Williamstown, Massachusetts, to play for the Nescac championship on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 7 and 8. While the Ephs once again took to conference crown, the Panthers held their own on Williams’ home course at Taconic Golf Club. The Panthers finished in third, only four shots behind second-place Amherst, shooting a 628 on the weekend. Williams took the trophy with a collective 612 for the weekend, with rounds of 306 on both days. “Everyone on the team dedicated themselves to improving mentally and technically this fall,” Chloe Levins ’20 said after Sunday’s round was over. “There is nothing but motivation to take away from the season. It’s exciting to be inches from great success as a team.” It was really a three-team race from end-to-end, as Williams, Amherst and the Panthers were within seven shots of each other after the first day of play (306, 307, 313). The next closest team at that point was Bowdoin, who was a distant 26 shots behind Middlebury. Even more impressive about the Panthers’ weekend performance at Taconic is the fact that their weekend total of 628 was 13 shots better than their two-day score the last two times the team played at the familiar course, when they shot rounds of 641 twice last season. After the first day, Helen Dailey ’19 and Chloe Levins ’20 found themselves in a share of the fifth spot on the individual leaderboard. Their rounds of 76 led the way for the Panthers, and it marked a career day for Dailey. Her 76 was the lowest round of her collegiate career thus far. For Levins, the 76 tied her second-lowest score for the season. Blake Yaccino ’20 turned in an 80 on the first day, which for the third straight round, put Yaccino just on the precipice of breaking the 80 mark. Hope Matthews ’18, one of the team’s two senior captains, was the last Panther to register in the day-one scoring, as she shot an 81. In a stroke of bad luck, the Panthers’ other senior captain who almost always is among the team’s lowest scorers, Katharine Fortin ’18, had her highest round of the season on Saturday. She turned in an 83 on a course that has been hit or miss for her throughout her career. Fortin has shot rounds as low as 76 and as high as 87 at Williams’ home course. However, the scoring played out differently for the Panthers last Sunday. Fortin followed her tough Saturday with a key 79 on Sunday, which would prove to be the second-lowest score for the Panthers on day two. The lowest scorer was Yaccino, who finally overcame her tendency to add strokes to her score in the second round of tournaments and shaved five strokes off her Saturday score to register a 75. Her two-day total of 155 was the team low and was good for a fifth-place overall finish on the individual leaderboard. Levins, the team’s no. 1 for much of the fall and the Nescac tournament individual champion at the event last year, fell off the lead on Sunday and fell short of defending her title. Her 84 pushed her from a tie for fifth to a tie for ninth. Although it rained over northwest Massachusetts on Sunday morning, Levins is not going to chalk up her higher score to anything but a tough round and a constructive experience. “It rained heavily for the first four holes on day two,” Levins said. “This made the course trickier for everyone in the field to manage. My higher score, however, was not a byproduct of course conditions. I’m just still learning how to stay in contention on day two. One of these times, I’ll get it.” Dailey also fell off of the pace she set for herself on Saturday, as she went from a 76 to an 81 on Sunday, putting her weekend total at 157 and her in a three-way tie for sixth in the individual competition. Matthews managed to shoot an 80 on Sunday, and her two-day total of 161 saw her claim a tie for 10th on the individual boards. The Nescac tournament marked the end of the fall season for the women’s golf team, which has a lot to be excited about for the spring season and beyond. “It has been really interesting to watch the team grow and develop over the past few years,” Matthews said. “I think we have gathered a lot of great talent in recent recruiting and it is definitely showing in our results. Although we have not won any tournaments yet, we are getting closer to catching our competitors each time. I’m really excited to see how we can challenge Williams, Amherst, NYU, and other opponents in the spring.” As was the case for Matthews, the weekend also marked Fortin’s last conference tournament, and although the team did not push Williams as hard as they had hoped, Fortin was able to reflect on how far the program has come. “This season has been a great show of our ability to compete with the other top NESCAC schools,” Fortin said. “We are driving the program in the right direction. “When I came onto the team as a freshman, we were good, but we did not have the depth needed to compete with Williams and, eventually, Amherst and NYU,” Fortin said. However, the Panthers’ recent success with recruiting and seeing through the development of new players in the program looks to change that narrative. “We have acquired some really strong underclassmen and have shown rising collegiate golfers that the Middlebury women’s golf team is in the thick of the competition every week,” Fortin said. “This will certainly help to further develop the program and recruit successful players in the coming years.” More immediately, however, the short spring season will be here before fans of Middlebury golf know it. Fortin, who will have her fourth opportunity to measure up to the challenge of playing golf competitively in upper-New England Aprils, is looking to make the most of it. “The short Spring season is definitely hard coming out of a cold winter,” Fortin said, “but we will continue to be up there with Williams and Amherst, especially if we stay on top of our games and keep up our strength through the winter months. “Everyone is in the same position at the beginning of April, so we will be competing at the same level and will continue to give ourselves a chance to be on top of the leaderboard.” Like the senior captain, the team’s emerging star—Levins—is looking forward to April and is boiling everything down to what really matters the most. “It’s important to keep a singular focus on your own game from week to week,” Levins said. “However, on the weekends, we play as Middlebury Women’s Golf. The process of getting better never changes and neither does what we represent. “The best thing for me, and everyone else, to do looking forward, is to keep it simple and get the ball in the hole for Middlebury.”

Men’s Tennis Faces DI Teams

The men’s tennis team faced a big challenge last weekend, Friday to Sunday, Oct. 6 to 8, as it competed against exclusively Division I teams in the Farnsworth Invitational at Princeton. The doubles pair of Andre Xiao ’21 and Will de Quant ’18 led the way by reaching the semifinals of the A-doubles flight, while Peter Martin ’19 reached the semifinals of the C-singles flight. Despite the fact that Middlebury was the only Division III team competing at Princeton, the Panthers were confident in their ability to match-up with most other teams there. “In reality, there were only a handful of teams (UVA, Columbia, Princeton) at the tournament that would clearly beat us in a team match,” said team captain de Quant. “The majority of teams there had strong players, but I would feel confident about our chances when pitting our lineup against theirs.” De Quant, Noah Farrell ’19 and Kyle Schlanger ’18 all competed in the A-singles flight. In the first round, de Quant defeated Drexel’s Hamza Laalej 6–2, 7–5, but lost to eventual champion, Virginia’s Aswin Lizen, in the next round 6–2, 6–2. Lizen is part of the team that has won the past NCAA Division I titles. “The ‘better’ teams at the tournament were UVA, Princeton and Columbia,” said de Quant. “UVA has won two consecutive NCAA Division I titles, so seeing the talent they bring in and how they compete in matches is great for us moving forward. As a team, we know that our level of commitment and our level of training is on par with most DI programs, and seeing these DI teams this weekend only solidified my confidence in our program and the quality that our team has on and off court.” Farrell lost his first round matchup to Luka Sucevic from St. John’s 7–5, 7–6 (7–2). After a bye in the first round, Schlanger lost a hard-fought match to Monmouth’s Alberto Giuffrida 7–6 (11–9), 1–6, 10–4. Schlanger and de Quant showed their mettle in the consolation bracket, where Schlanger won twice and de Quant won three matches to finish 4–1 on the weekend in singles. In the A-doubles flight, de Quant and Xiao advanced to the semifinals by winning their first match over Marist’s Chris Gladden and Carlos Moreno 8–3. There, the Panther pair lost to Drexel’s Bernard Tefel and Sinan Orhon 8–6. “The top end of Division III Tennis is now very strong and deep, which I think showed when our players competed against some of the top players from the DI schools at this tournament,” said de Quant. Schlanger and Timo van der Geest ’18, the other Middlebury pair in the A-doubles flight, won their first match as well, defeating Lehigh’s George Cooper and Bryant Born 8–3, but fell to eventual champions Rian Pandole and Michal Rolski from Columbia 8–5. Unlike Cuba and de Quant, Schlanger and van der Geest did not get a bye, so they only made it to the quarterfinals. Van der Geest and Alex Vanezis ’20 and Andre Xiao ’21 represented Middlebury in the B-singles flight. All three Panthers lost their first matches, but both van der Geest and Xiao were able to win twice in the consolation bracket. In B-doubles, the pairs of Farrell and Martin and Vanezis and Nate Eazor ’21 lost in the first round. Vanezis and Eazor rebounded in the consolation bracket by winning twice. Martin made his run into the semifinals of C-singles by beating Lehigh’s Chris Auteri 2–6, 6–2, 10–3, Drexel’s Xandy Hammitt 5–7, 7–6 (7 – 3), 10–8, and Columbia’s Taiya Hamanaka 7–6 (7–4), 6–2. He lost to Princeton’s Kabir Sarita 6–2, 6–1 in the final four of the 32-man field. “Peter Martin stood out this weekend, as he performed very well in his singles bracket,” de Quant said. “He has historically focused on doubles, but he showed everyone his quality in singles as well this weekend, which is great for him and great for the team moving forward.” Adam Guo ’21 also had a successful weekend, winning twice in the D-singles flight and once in the C-doubles flight paired with Thorne Gregory ’21. They beat a UVA pair 87. “The mentality for the weekend was focused on getting matches under our belt, which was a success considering all 13 guys was able to play multiple matches each day,” de Quant said. “This is what the fall season is all about. “We had confidence going in that we have the level to play and beat players from these DI programs, which showed throughout the weekend,” de Quant said. “Our goal was to learn more about where we stand as individuals and as a team, and we did just that.” After the challenges the Panthers faced these last several weeks, the team should be ready to go for this weekend’s trip to Cambridge, Massachusetts, for the MIT Invitational Friday to Sunday, Oct. 13 to 15.

Volleyball’s Win Streak Is Snapped

This past weekend, the Middlebury volleyball vanquished Connecticut College on Friday, Oct. 6, before falling to Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 7, snapping a 10-match winning streak. The Panthers (12–3, 4–1) now sit at fourth in the Nescac standings. In the weekend opener, the Camels did not provide a challenge, losing to the hosts in straight sets (25–13, 25–13, 25–10), which pushed Middlebury’s win streak was pushed to double digits. In the first set, an attack error by the Panthers provided the Camels with the first point — the Panthers never trailed after that. After the Camels tied the set at 9, the Panthers went on a 14–2 run behind a plethora of kills courtesy of Eliana Schaefer ’18, Alice Roberts ’18, Sarah Staver ’19 and Isabel Sessions ’19. The second set developed in a similar fashion, with the Camels winning the initial point, losing the lead, then knotting the score up at 9 only to have the Panthers go on a big run propelled by a barrage of kills. With the last set underway, the Panthers no longer had any interest in making it seem like they might let the Camels hang around for another set. Middlebury quickly jumped out to an 8–3 lead behind two kills by Sessions and a couple of service aces by Gigi Alper ’20. The Camels won the next point, but it proved to be their real gasp of competitiveness of the day. Middlebury tacked on another long scoring streak (12–3) before Staver closed out the victory with a block. Middlebury dominated the whole way, especially on defense, tallying 11 blocks, while the visitors could not manage to notch a single one. Staver led the way in the category with a phenomenal eight-block effort — Sessions tacked on four while Schaefer added three. Becca Raffel ’18 led the offense with a match-high nine kills while Sessions put four shots away. Alper, with 10 digs, also added a match-high four service aces. On Saturday, the team celebrated senior day, honoring Raffel, Schaefer, Roberts and Emily Kolodka ’18. However, team on the other side of the net was a hot Wesleyan team who came in 13–1 and undefeated in Nescac play. Middlebury’s 10-game win streak was snapped by the Cardinals, but not without a fight from the Panthers who let a 2–0 set advantage slip away. The Cardinals clawed their way back into the match after dropping the first two sets 25–19 and 25–11, winning a pair of 25–19 do-or-die victories before narrowly escaped Pepin with a 16–14 win in the rubber-match fifth set. In a tight first set, tied at 13, the hosts put together a 5–1 run. The Cardinals managed to close the gap though to 21–19, but four straight home-team points that was capped by a Roberts kill down the line gave the Panthers a one-set-to-zero advantage. The second set was not nearly as tight as the first. The hosts bounded out to an 8–4 lead and then won the next nine points. During the run, Staver and Roberts both recorded a pair of kills. Middlebury ended up winning handily, posting a sparkling .483 hitting percentage in the process. The third set saw another mid-set tie, this time at 14. It was Wesleyan, however, that strung together the points this time, and the Panthers found themselves in a 21–15 hole, a point from which they never seemed to recover for the rest of the match. The fourth and fifth stanzas were not as close, despite what the scores indicate, as the Cardinals jumped out to early leads, held off Middlebury advances, ultimately handing the Panthers a loss. Despite the loss, Raffel continued to dominate Nescac foes as she posted a season-best 21 kills. Schaefer, Roberts and Staver were also instrumental on the offensive, posting kill totals of 11, 11 and 12, respectively. Emma Walsh ’21, thriving when she is given playing time and opportunities, dished out a career-best 55 assists while also adding seven digs. Even in a losing effort, the Panthers outhit the Cardinals .283 to .208 and managed to pile up more blocks, with 11 to Wesleyan’s seven. With a weekend of mixed results, Raffel remains confident. “This weekend was full of highs and lows,” Raffel said. “Connecticut College is a good team and we were able to stay focused and execute efficiently against them. The loss to Wesleyan was obviously disappointing, but I’m so proud of our composure throughout the match and we will hope to see them again down the road.” The Panthers have a big couple of days ahead, as they travel to Medford, Maine, tomorrow to take on the Nescac front-running Tufts Jumbos in a rematch of last seasons Nescac tournament championship before heading to Brunswick, Maine, to face Bowdoin on Saturday.