It's been a tough home stretch for the Tufts women's tennis team. After losing a close match on Wednesday to No. 2 Amherst, the team had little time to catch its breath. The Jumbos faced No. 1 Emory on Friday before taking on NESCAC rival Williams College on Sunday in an action-packed weekend that yielded two losses for Tufts. The Jumbos were soundly defeated by Emory 8-1, and lost a tight match to the Ephs 5-4.
With cool and breezy conditions at home on Friday, coach Doug Eng and his team hoped they would have an advantage over a shaky Emory team that had been upset earlier in the season by No. 11 ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps College. Emory came out playing strong, and although the Tufts team stayed close, the Eagles proved too much to handle.
"[Emory's] results have been less than spectacular, which is their norm," Eng said. "So they appeared ripe for another upset, at least on paper. The hardest match-ups were against their [four through six seeds] as Emory has tremendous depth."
In singles, second seeded junior Rebecca Bram lost 6-4, 7-5. Senior tri-captain and third seed Jennifer Lejb won the first set 6-4 and was down 1-2 in the second set before being forced to retire due to injury. Sophomore fourth seed Kylyn Deary lost 6-1, 6-0. Fifth seed senior tri-captain Trina Spear lost 6-0, 6-0. Sophomore sixth seed Stephanie Ruley lost 6-0, 6-1. Lejb, who was forced off the court with an ankle injury, was still positive about the match.
"The match today went alright," Lejb said. "We were hoping to do better and we all went out there with great spirits. They were a good team, and we came off with good spirits regardless."
The lone bright spot of the day was number one seed sophomore Jennifer Luten, who won her match in dramatic fashion 6-3, 1-6, 7-6. After going down 5-4 in the third set, she saved three match points to send it into a tie breaker, where she saved a fourth match point to win the tie-breaker and the match.
"Luten got back on track with a great match at number one," Eng said. "She staved off three match points with spectacular go-for-broke tennis. She ripped a couple ridiculous passing shots down the line. She showed a lot of heart out there."
In doubles, the number one team of Luten and Deary lost 8-2 and the number two seed pairing of Lejb and Pisheva lost 8-4. Number three seed Bram and Weisman lost a close one 8-6. Tufts played solid doubles, but failed to dictate the play of the matches.
"Emory often stayed back and played defense," Eng said. "I think there was more we could have done but we didn't adjust well against the two back. Emory didn't make many errors even though they gave us the initiative. I think we are capable of playing a higher level game in doubles."
The team headed back to the courts on Sunday in a competitive match against Williams, but was just barely edged out by the Ephs 5-4. Like Emory, Williams did not play very aggressively but made up for it with nearly flawless tennis. Although Tufts had little time to make improvements following Friday's match, Eng has a clear idea of what the team needs to work on.
"First, we have to cut down on errors in doubles," Eng said. "Second, we need to play more aggressively up the middle. Third, we need to move earlier and more frequently both up to the net for put-aways, and across the middle of the court on poaching."
In singles, number one seed Luten won 6-7(3), 6-1, 6-1; two seed Bram lost 6-0, 6-1; three seed Lejb lost 6-1, 6-0; five seed Spear won 6-2, 6-3; and sixth Ruley won 6-4, 5-7, 6-4.
Tufts went down four games to two early in the match, but staged a comeback to even it up with decisive wins at the number one and six singles spots, which left Deary's fourth seed match as the deciding factor. Although she played extremely hard, making a huge comeback in the second set after going down 1-5 and saving three match points at 40-love, Deary lost 6-2, 6-7, 6-4 to drop the match.
"She did a great job of keeping her head in the match since she was down triple match point in the second set," Eng said. "And then she came back from the dead and almost won the match in the third. Late in the third set anything can happen and Kyly ran out of a bit of luck."
In doubles play, number one team Luten and Deary won 8-5, while two seed Lejb and Pisheva lost 8-4 and third seed Bram and Weisman lost 8-6.
"I think everyone played to the level of their opponent," Deary said. "Sometimes it works to our advantage, and sometimes, like today, it doesn't. Everyone on the team put so much heart into the match, and I know we will be at the level we need to be when Nationals and NESCAC's come around."
Tufts is currently 7-5 on the season, and 0-2 in the NESCAC Conference, with only one match remaining this year against Connecticut College on April 26.
