The Tufts women's tennis team steamrolled through its competition last week, dominating MIT 8-1 and then defeating Bowdoin 6-3.
Tufts played well in a match that, last week, coach Jim Watson called "scary" because the Jumbos would be without freshman Barclay Gang. They gave up one doubles match and two singles matches on the day. Gang, who has been playing very well for the Jumbos, took a trip home to Miami this past weekend to get an old wrist injury looked at. This caused her to be absent from last Saturday's match but it didn't seem to phase the Jumbos.
"We responded well to being without Barclay there," sophomore Rachel Hammerman said. "We really took it in stride. We have so much depth on this team that it really isn't devastating when someone misses a match."
It obviously wasn't devastating, as Tufts cruised to a 6-3 victory on Saturday. The Jumbos beat Bowdoin in two out of the three doubles matches, an area where Tufts usually struggles. The number-one doubles team of sophomore Katie Nordstrom and junior Erika Lee beat Sanida Kikic and Kathleen Maloney easily 8-1. The second doubles team of sophomore Emily Warshauer and junior Heather Rich followed the first doubles team by defeating Alexis Bawden and Betsy Hayes 8-5. The only wrinkle in the doubles play for the Jumbos the third doubles team of junior Daniella Fontecilla and Iffy Saeed, who lost a close match 8-6.
In the singles matches, Bowdoin challenged several of the Jumbos, but the team was still able to pull out four of the six matches. Nordstrom struggled through the first set of her first singles match, losing it 6-1 to Kikic. She then won a tough second set 7-6 and regained her form in the third set winning 6-3 to take the match. Lee was challenged as well in her second singles match. She won the first set 6-4, but Bawden took the next set from Lee by the some score. Lee recovered, however, winning the third set 6-4 to clinch the match. Iffy Saeed, who was taking Gang's place in the third singles spot, played well and took the match in straight sets 6-1, 6-3 from Hayes.
After the first three singles matches, the Jumbos hit a snag, dropping the fourth and fifth singles. Warshauer, who was moved up one slot from her usual fifth singles spot, lost in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 to Maloney. Rich, who was playing fifth singles, looked good in her first set, which she won 6-3. However she relinquished the last two sets 6-1, 6-0 to Paulette Hricko. Hammerman ended this small losing streak in her sixth singles match by dominating Edwards 6-1, 6-1.
Two days before the match against Bowdoin the Jumbos looked very good in a commanding 8-1 victory against MIT. "It was a decisive victory," Hammerman said. "I thought we played really well."
The only match that Tufts gave up was that of the second doubles team of Warshauer and Gang. Even this, however, was not that bad of a loss.
"The only match that we lost was a close match," Hammerman said. "It wasn't like they got blown out or anything. They still played well even though they lost."
The Jumbos now hope to continue their success this week with two tough matches against Wesleyan and Trinity. Tufts will be looking forward to tomorrow's home match against Wesleyan since the Jumbos lost to them last year in a close 5-4 contest.
"There were circumstances surrounding [last year's] matches," Hammerman said. "It was getting dark, so I am confident that we will beat them this year."
Hammerman is similarly confident about the following match on Saturday at Trinity. "We didn't have a problem with them last year," she said. "And I think we are better this year so we should beat them."
The Jumbos want to win these next two matches a little bit more than usual because they want to go into the New England Championships on a good note. The Championships will take place Oct. 20-22. Those matches will end the fall season and let the Jumbos know where the stand in New England.
