Due to a recent decision to have a spring tournament for women's tennis (prior to this change, there had been no NESCAC tournament), the tennis team will be playing a split season this year; for the first time, there will be spring games.
"The spring season gives us exposure to get selected for NCAA regionals and get more national recognition than we've ever had," head coach Jim Watson said.
The fall half of the season went well for the Jumbos, with their only loss coming at the hands of Williams College, which finished the fall season ranked fourth in the nation by the ITA. Tufts ended the fall ranked eleventh.
The tennis team began its spring season against Brandeis University on April 4, quickly disposing of the Judges 9-0.
"We could have beaten Brandeis with our JV squad," head coach Jim Watson said of the competition.
This past weekend, Tufts traveled to Vermont for the Middlebury Invitational. The event did not feature team scoring - everyone played for herself.
"Because there was no team scoring, it took some of the pressure off the girls who were able to loosen up because they weren't worried about losing it for their teammates," assistant coach Doug Eng said. This helped the Jumbos, as all players had impressive results.
In the Women's A division, sophomore Katie Nordstrom, Tufts' top player, and freshman Barclay Gang, performed impressively. Each played in the semifinals for a chance to face-off in the finals, but Nordstrom, who was ranked ninth in the east by the ITA on Dec. 12, couldn't top the eventual winner, Gabriela Ruiz of RIT, who was ranked fourth in the east in the same ITA poll. Gang lost to Ruiz 6-3, 6-1 in the finals.
Tufts' four and five players, sophomores Iffy Saeed and Emily Warshauer, competed in the B singles tournament. Warshauer made it to the quarterfinals before being crushed by UVM's Lindsay Cutter in straight sets. Saeed, however, was able to win the draw by topping Cutter 6-2, 6-3 in the final.
In the last of the singles draws, C level, a Jumbo again made it to the finals. Sophomore Rachel Hammerman crawled into the finals exhausted after two previous three-set matches. UVM's Lindsay Sine cruised through, not dropping a set en route to the finals. She was able to take advantage of her fresher legs and beat Hammerman 6-2, 6-2 for the championship trophy. Senior Jen Lai had met Sine in the quarterfinals.
For the doubles matches, the Jumbos did not play with their usual partners and had to adjust quickly.
In the A bracket, Gang and Nordstrom made it to the semifinals before dropping a close set 8-6 to the eventual winners.
"If Barclay and Katie had played together before, they would have probably won," Eng said.
Saeed and Warshauer were paired up for the B division and were able to overcome the obstacle of unfamiliarity and make it to the finals before losing to their opponents from Middlebury 8-6. Eng predicted that had his team played together all season, it would have come away with a trophy.
In the C division, Hammerman and Lai were paired up. This team, although seeded number one in the draw, was not able to compensate for the fact that they had never played together before and fell in the quarterfinals to the team from Middlebury.
The goal of the tournament was to get the team ready to face the NESCAC's number-two team in Amherst next Wednesday and then compete for the NESCAC championship next weekend.
"It was exactly what we needed," Eng said.
