The men's tennis team had several players reach the late elimination rounds of their respective brackets in the team's first time ever competing in the Middlebury Invitational. The squad's top results came in doubles, where the squad placed a duo in the finals of both the A and B brackets. In the A bracket, Simon Miller '11 and Nick White '11 won their first three matches in convincing fashion before falling to Ithaca College's team of junior Jimmy Newton and senior Josh Rifkin by a score of 8-6.

Despite losing the match, coach Ben Lamanna thought both Miller and White played well against the Ithaca tandem.

"[Miller and White] got broken in the first game and just couldn't recover," Lamanna said. "But the final match had some very high quality tennis and they both played great."

In earlier rounds, Miller and White won 8-2 before losing 8-4 and 8-3 against the Middlebury teams.

Steven Milo '13 and Dave Yovanoff '13, who also played in the bracket, dropped both of their matches by scores of 8-4.

The team's other finals appearance came in the B doubles bracket, where Fred Rozenshteyn '13 and Ezra Bernstein '11 knocked out two Middlebury teams and a duo from Trinity College before falling to the third Middlebury tandem, sophomores Alec Parower and William Oberrender.

"They didn't think that they played all that well, but they played really well all weekend, especially in the first two rounds," Lamanna said of Rozenshteyn and Bernstein.

Lamanna also said that the rain, which started partway through the match, may have had a hand in the pair's defeat.

"It started raining midway through, and the change of pace was something that they couldn't recover from," he said.

The doubles team of Steven Nieman '11 and Brandon Frank '14 beat Ithaca College freshmen David Andersen and Griffin Reid 8-2 before dropping the next match in the quarterfinals.

The squad's most impressive singles performance came in the C bracket, where Milo made the finals before falling to Middlebury College freshman Brantner Jones. Milo defeated senior Josh Jasso of Vassar College in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, before defeating freshman James Burke of Middlebury 1-6, 6-4, (10-2) and senior Yahia Iman of Skidmore College 4-6, 6-0, (10-5).

"It was good for him to get some wins under his belt," Lamanna said. "He's got a few things to work on, but he's playing very well."

The team had two other competitors in the C Bracket. Nieman dropped to Middlebury freshman Andrew Lebovitz 6-4, 7-6, while Bernstein defeated Bates freshman Peter Yanofsky 6-3, 7-6.

Miller lost in the semifinals of the B singles bracket to Middlebury freshman Edward Fitzgibbons 3-6, 6-1, (11-9), a player who he defeated in their doubles match.

Lamanna thought Miller played well in the match, but commented on what he could have done to win.

"[Miller] looked good, but he should have won, and he knows it," Lamanna said. "He may have let his foot off of the pedal a little bit, but it was still a good tournament for him."

Yovanoff also competed in the bracket, but he lost both of his matches.

In A singles, White defeated Newton 6-1, 5-7, (11-9) before dropping to Bates sophomore Robert Crampton by a score of 6-2, 4-6, (10-6) in quarterfinals.

Rozenshteyn lost to Bates sophomore Matt Bettles 6-2, 7-5 before losing to Vassar sophomore Andrew Guzick 6-2, 2-0 (retired).

In the tournament's final division, D singles, Josh Jordan '13 dropped to Bates sophomore Dillon Reffe 6-4, 2-6, (10-3), while Adam Brown '14 lost to Bates' Crampton by a 6-3, 3-6, (10-4).

Lamanna thought that the squad performed well, especially given that it was the team's first time competing at Middlebury.

"Overall, it was real positive," Lamanna said. "It was our first time there, and we were the last team to leave, which shows that we had a lot of people make it deep into their brackets. We're beginning to realize that we can be one of the better teams in the northeast, and they showed it this weekend."

With an experienced team, Lamanna is intrigued by the Judges' potential.

"We've got a senior-laden team so they have a lot of experience and a solid top to bottom [lineup], so I'm excited to see what we can do."

The team next competes in the Brown Invitational this weekend in Providence, R.I.