The women's tennis team headed into the NESCAC championship as defending co-champions, splitting the 2004 title with Williams. This time around, however, the Jumbos would have to be satisfied with a solid second place finish, as they were unable to overcome the sizeable hurdle that Amherst, the 2005 champion, has presented all season long.
"Amherst is a tough team," coach Doug Eng said. "A couple matches in singles were tough to win, just tough match-ups. The doubles were [up for grabs] but we didn't get them."
The tournament, held at Middlebury College, featured a field of 11 competing teams from the conference. Amherst took first place with a total score of 31, followed closely by the Jumbos with 23 points. Middlebury finished in third, followed by Williams, Trinity, Colby, Connecticut College, Bowdoin, Bates, Hamilton and Wesleyan. The tournament featured five rounds of singles and doubles play divided into A, B and C brackets, with an additional D bracket in the singles. The strategy proposed by Eng for the day was simple, yet proved to be effective.
"I wanted a more laid back approach and to play hard without expectations," Eng said. "It seems we play better that way. Our goal was a top three finish."
Playing in the singles A round was sophomore Jen Luten. Following a bye in the first round, Luten defeated Bowdoin's A player 6-4, 6-4, and crushed Connecticut College's A player 6-0, 6-3, before losing to Amherst in three sets, 2-6, 6-3, 5-7.
In the B singles, both sophomore Kylyn Deary and senior tri-captain Jennifer Lejb received first round byes. Deary went out in the Quarterfinals to Middlebury's B player 1-6, 1-6, while Lejb fought her way through several difficult matches to reach the finals, before losing to Amherst's B 0-6, 6-2, 2-6.
In the C singles senior tri-captain Trina Spear also received a first round bye, but fell to Amherst in the Semifinals 4-6, 2-6. But sophomore Stephanie Ruley, who began in the first round with no bye, managed to defeat Amherst's second C player 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-1, before losing in the finals to yet another Amherst opponent, going down 4-6, 0-6.
"Amherst has always been a strong team," Lejb said. "They recruit great players and have a solid tennis program. I think they might spend a lot of time practicing the problem areas that other teams have, exposing weaknesses in matches."
The Tufts doubles squads also made successful runs in the tournament, with both the No. 1 team of Luten and Deary and the No. 2 team of Lejb and Pisheva making it to the final rounds, where both teams lost 5-8 to the doubles teams from Amherst. The No. 3 doubles team of senior Ashley Weisman and junior Rebecca Bram lost a hard-fought match in the semifinals to Middlebury 7-9.
"[Ruley] and [Luten] had great runs in singles," Eng said. "Luten lost 7-5 in the third set to an Amherst opponent who was playing on top of her game. We played great doubles, which was a great lead-in for the NCAA [Tournament]."
Following the NESCAC Championships, the Jumbos competed in the NCAA Team Tournament. Following a sweep of rival Wellesley College 5-0 in the Regional First Round, Tufts returned to its fifth straight Northeast final. The team was determined to improve upon its performance last year, when it lost in the finals, but Amherst once again stood in the way, ending the Jumbos' season 5-1.
"We were very confident after NESCACs and we wanted revenge against Wellesley," Eng said. "Blanking them was nice. The key to Amherst was doubles. We [thought] they [were] more vulnerable there than singles."
Although doubles has been the weak link of the team most of the season, the squad showed they were beginning to come to form with close matches in all three doubles matchups. Both No. 1 duo Luten and Deary and No. 2 team Lejb and Pisheva lost 6-8 in their respective matches, and the No. 3 team of Bram and Weisman took their match to a tie-breaker, losing 9-8 (7-2).
"Amherst might win the nationals," Deary said. "Doubles remains the problem, especially stringing two wins together in a row."
Tufts finished its team season with a record of 9-6, but for Deary and Luten, their play continues as they head to Kalamazoo, Michigan, as Luten will compete in the NCAA Singles Championships, along with Deary in the Doubles Championships. Both look forward to the match, and are confident of success.
"I couldn't be more excited," said Deary, a Mich. native. "This will be basically my home court, my friends and family will be there. I know we can win our first few rounds."
