Men’s Tennis Falls at Middlebury College

The men’s tennis team traveled to Middlebury on Saturday for its first match against the Panthers since April 14, 1972. Although Wesleyan came into the battle 21-3 overall against Middlebury, the perennial power Panthers proved to be too much for the Cardinals, as Middlebury took an 8-1 decision. The team now stands at 10-6 on the season and 1-2 in the NESCAC standings.

Forced to play indoors in “The Bubble” due to rainy conditions, Wesleyan got off to a rocky start as the Panthers swept all three doubles matches. The number-one pair of Jaafar Rizvi ’09 and Matt O’Connell ’09 fell 8-2, while the No. 3 team of Paul Gerdes ’09 and Alejandro Alvarado ’09 fell 8-1. At number two, Graham Immerman ’09 and Michael Piderit ’12 had the closest match, losing 8-4.

Middlebury’s dominance continued as the teams moved on to singles matches. The No. 5 and No. 6 singles matches were reduced to a single pro set to speed up action, as the outcome of the match had already been decided. Piderit posted an 8-6 victory at No. 5 for the Cardinals’ only victory on the afternoon, while Alvarado fell by the same score at No. 6. Number-one O’Connell (2-6, 2-6), number-two Immerman (3-6, 3-6) and number-three Gerdes (6-7, 1-6) all fell in straight sets. No. 4 Rizvi took the first set 7-6 but dropped the second 3-6 before falling in the tiebreaker, 10-5.

Wesleyan now stands at 5-4 in the spring and returns to action with a match at Trinity on Wednesday.