The women's tennis team wrapped up its sensational fall season with a second place finish in the New England Division III Championships at Amherst this weekend. The Jumbos topped Williams, last year's National Champs, while host Amherst won the championships.
Four out of six Jumbos were singles finalists, while all three doubles pairs reached the semi-finals.
Senior co-captains Katie Nordstrom (four singles) and Iffy Saeed (six singles) led the Jumbo charge. Nordstrom overcame a 0-6 deficit to defeat Amherst number four Paige Lawrence 0-6, 6-1, 10-4, while Saeed cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 victory against Williams' Brittany Binet. Saeed lost just ten games in four matches on the way to her win. Sophomore Barclay Gang (three singles) battled both a bad case of laryngitis and Trinity's Courtney Sargeant to triumph 6-3, 6-4 in her finals match.
"I'm proud of our team for stepping up to the challenge and beating Williams," Gang said. "That just makes us want to work harder for the spring. It pushes us to a level we haven't been at before."
Coach Jim Watson was thrilled with the way the team has handled themselves this season.
"We sent a message to Amherst," Watson said. "I'm extremely proud. We got over the hump and that really sets us up for the spring mentally."
Freshman Lisa Miller (five singles) reached her singles' final but met a roadblock in the form of Williams' Kate Troy, going down 6-4, 6-0. However Miller was not too disappointed with the team's outcome, despite her hard-fought loss.
"The past two years the team has finished third," Miller said. "Coming in second can be a really good motivator, particularly coming into spring, when it counts." Individually, the team is on par with Amherst and Williams, she said.
Along with the excitement of the second place finish, the Jumbos weekend included off the court highlights as well. Nordstrom was honored by Williams College with the Lindsay Morehouse Memorial Tennis Award. Lindsay Morehouse (Williams '00) tragically lost her life on 9-11-01. The award was created in her memory, to 'acknowledge a player who represents the ideals of sportsmanship, friendliness, character, fair play, and hard work that Lindsay embodied.'
"What separates Katie from most other competitors is the rare degree of her friendliness and fairness. She is extremely and always pleasant and is the most fair player we have had on our teams in the past decade," Watson and assistant coach Doug Eng wrote. "The benefit of the doubt always (I do mean ALWAYS) goes to her opponent in true spirit. She never uses gamesmanship on her opponents whether deliberate or not, nor excuses to win or lose. She is a rare individual in our sport or any other sport for that matter."
Nordstrom, like the rest of the team, was overwhelmed by the distinction.
"When they announced my name I was just so surprised," Nordstrom said. "I couldn't believe they'd even consider me. I just think it's great that they have the award to honor [Morehouse] like that. I'm honored to be the recipient."
In other draws, sophomore Jennifer Lejb (one singles) reached the singles quarterfinals before falling to Trinity's Diana Goldman, Lejb's last victim of the fall regular season. Trinity went on to finish tied for fourth place with Brandeis. Freshman Becky Bram (two singles) battled her way to the semi-finals, losing to eventual champion Stephanie Hall of Williams.
The opportunity to see Williams and Amherst play prior to the spring season, when the Jumbos will meet both teams for the first time this year, was important. While the defeat of Williams is a giant step towards the coveted first place NESCAC finish in the spring, Amherst looks formidable.
The Jeffs claimed the scalps of all three Jumbo doubles teams, which places even greater importance on the singles matches in the spring clash. However, as they have done all season, the women are sure to rise to the challenge, as they seek to improve on last season's 11th place national ranking. Yet while Coach Watson remains focused on the spring season, he cannot help but be pleased with the results the team has produced so far.
"It would be great to improve our ranking," Watson said. But "the anticipation of [the spring season] doesn't detract from what the team achieved this fall."
More from The Tufts Daily
