This past weekend the women's tennis team ended its fall season at the New England Championships at Amherst College. Rain once again drove play indoors, and matches were separated to three different playing locations. However, the Tufts team played well, with five out of six singles players and all three doubles teams advancing beyond the first round.
The New England Championships divides players into six flights for singles and three flights for doubles. A draw is formed within each flight, with points being awarded for each round advanced. The team that finishes with the most total points wins the tournament. Tufts finished eighth out of 22 teams with thirteen total points.
"In terms of players, we played really well," freshman Jessica Knez said. "But our overall results weren't as good as we had hoped."
This may have been due to a tough draw received by the Jumbos. Even though only one Jumbo, Elyse Piker, advanced past the quarterfinals, six out of nine Jumbo players lost to the eventual champion or eventual runner-up.
Senior co-captain Becky Bram played in the first flight of singles. Bram breezed by junior Jaime Weiss of Wheaton in the first round (6-0, 6-0) before succumbing to the eventual champion, junior Beret Remak of Connecticut College (6-1, 7-5.) The top doubles team of Bram and Knez advanced two rounds, beating sophomore Caitlyn Leone and freshman Christina Consoles from Roger Williams (8-2) and the Colby tandem of junior Tracy Nale and senior Ginny Raho (9-7).
Knez, playing in the second flight, advanced to the quarterfinals after a first-round bye and a second-round victory over freshman Ania Preneta of Wesleyan (6-3, 7-6 (3)). Her tournament ended there, however, in a loss (6-3, 6-3) to Amherst sophomore Monica Snyder.
Piker advanced the furthest of any Jumbo, reaching the semifinals of the sixth singles flight. She defeated Colby freshman Nicole Veilleux, MIT junior Joanna Mackay, and Trinity junior Lindsay Ruslander, before finally falling to freshman Rachel Waldman of Bowdoin (6-2, 6-4).
Rounding out the rest of the Jumbos were sophomore Lani Ackerman advancing to the quarterfinals, junior Andrea Cenko advancing one round and sophomore Megan Gentzler falling in the first round. The other doubles teams also had some success. Both Cenko and freshman Mari Homma and Gentzler and junior Silvia Schmid advanced one round, in the second and third flights, respectively.
"The team did awesome; everyone did really well," said Bram. "I was really impressed by how the whole weekend turned out."
This tournament marks the end of the fall season for the women's tennis team. The team, missing several key players who are studying abroad, played extremely well with the help of several key underclassmen. Knez played third singles and second doubles most of the season before an injury to senior co-captain Lisa Miller forced her to step up to second singles and first doubles. Homma also played some singles matches as well as some second and third doubles. Gentzler spent a lot of time at fourth singles and consistently played doubles as well. Sophomores Ackerman and Cenko also made big contributions as the season wore on, especially after the injury to Miller.
"We didn't really know what to expect [coming in]," said Gentzler. "But the season went really well.
With the return of the three juniors who are currently abroad, and with the multitude of underclassman talent, the team has the potential to have a very strong spring season. Even with the success the team has enjoyed this fall, Knez has even higher expectations for the spring.
"We're going to be much stronger in the spring with a lot more depth on the team," said Knez. "And I'm really excited for everyone to improve more over the winter."
