The Middlebury Invitational has come to an end with the host school boasting three champions out of six flights on Sunday. Matches were contested outdoors at the Proctor Tennis Courts and indoors on the Nelson Recreation Center courts on the Middlebury campus. The team will return to action Friday, September 29 through Sunday, October 1 when it hosts the ITA Regional Championships.
In the 'A' singles flight, all four Panthers advanced to at least the quarterfinal round. Top-seeded Lubomir Cuba grabbed the title when he defeated third-seeded Ben Rosen of Bates in the championship match (6-3, 4-6, 10-8). William de Quant and Noah Farrell both picked up a pair of victories in the bracket. In the opening round, No. 4 seed de Quant advanced to the semifinals with a pair of 6-1, 6-2 victories before falling to Cuba. Farrell also moved into the semifinal round with two straight-set triumphs before being edged by Rosen (6-1, 6-4). The fourth Middlebury participant, Kyle Schlanger, won his first match in the draw before losing to Rosen.
Middlebury's Timo van der Geest was victorious in the 'B' singles championship for the second-straight year. On Saturday, fourth-seeded van der Geest knocked off Rensselaer's Tristan Wise and Nikhil Das of Brandeis in straight sets. In Sunday's play, van der Geest edged teammate Andre Xiao before picking up the title with a 0-6, 6-2, 11-9 triumph over teammate Alex Vanezis in the final.
Also taking part in the 'B' flight was Xiao, who tallied a pair of straight-set wins before falling to van der Geest in the semifinal.
In the 'C' flight, Weston Brach picked up an opening-round win before losing in the quarterfinals, while the 'D' flight saw Peter Martin win his opening-round match before also falling in the quarterfinal round.
The Middlebury pair comprised of Schlanger and van der Geest were victorious in the 'A' doubles bracket with an 8-6 victory over David Aizenberg and Anupreeth Coramutla from Brandeis. Cuba and de Quant were the top seed in the bracket, falling by an 8-6 tally to Schlanger and van der Geest in the semifinals.
The 'B' doubles flight featured two Panther duos who produced solid outcomes. The Middlebury team of Nate Eazor and Vanezis fell in the semifinals, while the pairing of Xiao and Adam Guo made it to the semifinals before falling to the eventual champion.
