Middlebury Claims 5-2 Victory Over Amherst in Men's Tennis Semifinals

Courtesy Amherst Sports Information

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -  Middlebury advanced to the finals of the 2007 NESCAC Men's Tennis Championship with a 5-2 win over Amherst, improving the Panthers to 17-1 while dropping the Lord Jeffs to 13-5. Middlebury will take on Williams Sunday at 9 a.m. in Amherst.

Middlebury senior tri-captains Alex Scott (Mt. Kisco, N.Y.) and George Mayer (Merion, Pa.) picked up a win in the #1 doubles match, defeating sophomore Zach Lerner (Scarsdale, N.Y.) and junior Tal Avrahami (Riverdale, N.Y.) 8-5. Sophomore Conrad Olson (Waterloo, Belgium) and junior Filip Marinkovic (Toronto, Ont.) gave the Panthers a second doubles victory by earning a convincing win over junior Mike Mintz (New York, N.Y.) and senior co-captain Karti Subramanian (Bethesda, Md.), 8-2.

Amherst's junior tandem of Jeff Wan (Staten Island, N.Y.) and Geoff Schwartz (Dallas, Texas) kept the Jeffs close by edging out Andrew Thomson (West Bloomfield, Mich.) and Kevin Bergesen (Beverly, Mass.) in the #2 doubles match, 8-6.

Lerner picked up a big win over Scott in the #1 singles match, but Mayer and Bergesen won their respective singles matches to give Middlebury a 4-2 lead with three very close singles matches still going on. First-year Dan Kim (Springfield, Mo.) was able to take the first set from Marinkovic in the #6 match, but Marinkovic stormed back to win the next two sets, 6-4 and 6-2, to seal the victory for the Panthers.

In the #2 match, Olson took the first set from Mintz, 7-5, and led him 3-2 in the second set before Marinkovic finished off Kim. Subramanian and Thomson were involved in a very tight match in the #5 slot, with Subramanian taking the second set, 7-5, after Thomson cruised to a 6-0 first-set win. When Middlebury was announced victorious, Thomson and Subramanian were notched at 1-1 in the third set.

No. 1 Middlebury 5, vs. No. 5 Amherst 2
8:00 a.m. at Mt. Holyoke College

Doubles                  
1 - Alex Scott/George Mayer (Middlebury) def. Zack Lerner/Tal Avrahami (Amherst) 8-5
2 - Jeff Wan/Geoff Schwartz (Amherst) def. Andrew Thomson/Kevin Bergesen (Middlebury) 8-6
3 - Conrad Olson/Filip Marinkovic (Middlebury) def. Karti Subramanian/Mike Mintz (Amherst) 8-2 

Singles
1 - Zack Lerner (Amherst) def. Alex Scott (Middlebury) 6-4, 6-4
2 - Conrad Olson (Middlebury) vs. Mike Mintz (Amherst) 7-5, 3-2 (DNF)
3 - George Mayer (Middlebury) def. Geoff Schwartz (Amherst)  6-4, 6-3
4 - Kevin Bergesen (Middlebury) def. Jeff Wan (Amherst) 6-1, 6-1
5 - Karti Subramanian (Amherst) vs. Andrew Thomson (Middlebury) 0-6, 7-5, 1-1 (DNF)
6. Filip Marinkovic (Middlebury) def. Daniel Kim (Amherst) 2-6, 6-4, 6-2