A cold and windy day didn't slow the women's tennis team yesterday; the squad moved its match against No. 2 Amherst College into the Gantcher Center.
Amherst came into Tufts with momentum from its 7-2 win over Middlebury College on Sunday. The Jumbos played tough, but in the end Amherst won a close match 6-3. Despite the loss, coach Doug Eng was pleased with his team's performance.
"I'm not unhappy with the scores," Eng said. "This is the tightest we've played Amherst in the last eight or nine years and it showed we're as good as any top team. It confirms we've got enough depth; we just need to step it up."
Under the lights of the Gantcher Center, and with a handful of spectators cheering them on, the Jumbos started off strong in both their doubles and singles matches by being aggressive and taking the early lead. Although the team hoped that it would have an advantage on the indoor turf, Amherst adapted and stormed back in all but three of the matches.
"Obviously Amherst isn't used to [the turf]," Eng said. "But their one, two and three singles players were all very good fast court players. We hoped they wouldn't adjust."
Despite the final score, a few key wins easily could have swung the match to Tufts. Amherst went up early after winning two of the three doubles matches. The number one doubles team, consisting of sophomore Jennifer Luten and sophomore Kylyn Deary, lost a close match 8-6. While Tufts dominated from the baseline, the Amherst duo countered with strong volleying. Luten's powerful serve and ground strokes put Tufts up 3-1, but Amherst stayed aggressive and won five straight to make it 3-6. Tufts staged a comeback, breaking Amherst's serve and closing the gap to 6-7. But Amherst answered right back by breaking Luten's serve, winning the match 8-6.
"We didn't play our best, but we didn't play bad," Deary said. "When we were aggressive we won, when we backed off we started to lose the points."
Tufts' second doubles team, senior tri-captains Neda Pisheva and Jennifer Lejb, won its match 8-3, but as was characteristic of the day, Amherst countered, winning 3-8 against the third doubles team of senior Ashley Weisman and junior Rebecca Bram.
"We needed to play more aggressive," Eng said. "Number two doubles kept the ball down and didn't allow Amherst to attack. We had solid doubles, but with a pro set you win some and you lose some."
The singles matches started off the same way as the doubles matches, with both Luten and Deary going up 3-0 early in the first set. Deary won her match 7-6 (7-3), 6-3. Luten played Amherst's tenacious number one, senior Rachel Holt, whom she had faced in the doubles match. Holt grew stronger as the match wore on, adjusting to Luten's powerful serve and forcing her to make errors. Luten, however, fought back from being down 3-4, hitting deep corner shorts, to regain the lead 5-4. After a pair of close shots that were called long, Amherst took the first set 5-7. Looking exhausted in the second set, Luten still was able to force a tie-breaker, but ultimately lost 6-7 (2-7).
"I should have taken over in the first set," Luten said. "She started getting more consistent and she picked up her game. We'll see [Amherst] again, and it gives us an idea where we are to be ready for them at the NESCAC championships."
Singles second seed senior Jennifer Lejb lost her match 4-6, 6-0, 5-7. Third seed Bram lost 2-6, 0-6. Fifth seed senior Trina Spear lost 1-6, 0-6. Fourth seed Dreary won her match 7-6 (7-2), 6-3. Sixth seed sophomore Stephanie Ruley's took her match in two sets.
"[Luten] played solid," Eng said. "[Deary] has elevated her game from the fall, and you're always going to get a good game out of her."
There will be no rest for Tufts, however, as on Friday the team will take on Emory University, the No.1 team in the country. Coach Eng is still confident about the upcoming match.
"The way we played today, we can beat Emory if we play like this, only marginally better," Eng said. "We'll play outdoors, which should help [Spear] and [Bram]."
Tufts is currently 7-3 on the season, with matches remaining against Emory and Williams College at home, and a final away match at Connecticut College before the NESCAC Championships in May.
