The women's tennis team, coming into the season ranked eighth in the nation, picked up where it left off last spring with an easy victory over Smith College. The Jumbos opened up their season on a very positive note, easily defeating the Pioneers 8-1 in their home opener this past Wednesday.
Coach Jim Watson used all ten women in the victory, as his team won all six singles matches with considerable ease, while taking two of three doubles matches. He did this to make all players feel they contributed to the win.
"If I just played the top six, we most probably would have won 9-0," Watson said.
Junior number one singles player Jen Lejb didn't surrender a game in defeating Smith's Lauren Kemp 6-0, 6-0. Sophomore Rebecca Bram started off a little slowly but had no trouble dominating her opponent, taking the match 6-2, 6-3 at the two spot.
At number three, freshman Jennifer Luten had no signs of butterflies in her first collegiate tennis match as she crushed Smith sophomore Ruth Linz, 6-2, 6-1. Senior captain Barclay Gang, despite struggling a bit in the second set, still came away with an impressive victory, 6-2, 6-4. Sophomore Lisa Miller, occupying the number five slot, overpowered her opponent 6-1, 6-1. Rounding out the top six was freshman Kylyn Deary, who like Luten, showed no signs of nervousness while routing her opponent 6-0, 6-1.
"It didn't really feel like a college match to me, it felt very normal," Deary said. "However, it is very different in actually knowing you have a team and a school behind you that you're playing for."
The lone setback for Tufts came at the number two doubles spot, as juniors Trina Spear and Neda Pisheva dropped a tough match 8-6 to Smith's Ashley Kilgore and Ruth Linz. The number one team of Lejb and Luten coasted to an 8-3 victory, as did the number three team of freshman Steph Ruley and sophomore transfer from Army, Rebecca Feldman, who took their match 8-1.
"We have a great crop of new talent coming in," Watson said. "We have three very good freshmen who have plugged up the two holes in our lineup due to graduation."
The Jumbos now have a lengthy break until they open the conference season at Colby on Sept. 20.
"We haven't really drilled that much yet this year, because we've mainly been playing challenge matches," Watson said. "We can use these days of practice to get all our kinks out. Also, it's very important that we establish our doubles teams, because our doubles have been the reason we've lost to Amherst and Williams the past three years."
The Jumbos look to continue their success against Colby next weekend. Tufts has controlled the White Mules easily over the past few seasons, winning 9-0, 7-2, and 7-2 in the past three years.
"We came together very well as a team today, and it makes me very excited about the season ahead," Miller said. "Being the first match of the season, it was great to have everyone involved and feel like that are contributing to the team effort. It's always a challenge getting back into the season, but it's also very exciting."
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