Looking to continue its winning ways in the NESCAC after a 5-4 upset victory over No. 11 Trinity on Tuesday, the men's tennis team narrowly lost to the No. 16 Bowdoin Polar Bears 5-4 on the road Saturday, dropping its record to 6-3.
Despite playing with an injury- and illness-plagued lineup on Bowdoin-friendly indoor courts in Brunswick, Maine, the unranked Jumbos still kept the match close. Had Tufts taken the courts at full strength, the outcome might have been different.
"We were sort of in a bad situation," senior tri-captain Matt Gallin said. "I had the flu and I wasn't going to play singles, and [junior Will Fleder] had a hurt hip flexor, while [freshman] Jon Trott had turned an ankle during practice on Friday.
"We were still able to put up a pretty good fight against a good team," Gallin continued. "We feel good about the effort, despite the result. We think we'll have a good shot at them if we play them again in the NESCAC Tournament."
Bowdoin also had some key players missing, however, as top singles player senior Sam Bitetti and freshman Jamie Neely, a top-four singles player, were both sidelined. With both teams' ladders hurting, Bowdoin's home-court advantage was a major deciding factor in this contest.
"Their courts are much different than ours," said Fleder, who injured his hip during Tuesday's Trinity match. "The courts at Bowdoin are a lot slower than at Tufts, and that presents problems for our team, since our courts are a lot faster. However, the bottom line is that we can't use that as an excuse - to be home or away, we should be able to bring our best and win."
The multiple ailments yielded changes in the lineup, including senior tri-captain Corey Keller pairing up with freshman Daniel Landers instead of Trott, while Gallin sat out of his usual No. 4 singles slot. Freshman Andrew Rosen and senior Craig Kunkes advanced one spot each in the singles ladder, with Rosen competing at No. 4 and Kunkes in the fifth slot, while sophomore Vinh Tran played at No. 6, his first dual match action since Oct. 4, 2006 against Babson.
Once again, doubles was a difference-maker, as the Polar Bears captured two of the three doubles contests, giving them a key 2-1 lead heading into singles. At No. 1, seniors Geoff Loh and tri-captain Sean McCooey notched a tight 9-8 (4) victory over Bowdoin senior Drew McDonald and junior Andrew Fried.
Tufts dropped the remaining two doubles matches, both by a score of 8-2, with Fleder and Gallin losing to sophomore Alex White and freshman Tyler Anderson at No. 2 and Keller and Landers falling in the third slot to juniors Armin Drake and Garrett Gates.
The squad is now 5-1 when it wins doubles, and 1-2 when taking the courts trailing after doubles play.
"Going into singles up in the match after doubles helps everyone," Gallin said. "We don't let that get us down though - we always believe we can win."
Tufts and Bowdoin split in singles, with each team taking three victories. Checking in at No. 3, McCooey picked up a 6-4, 6-4 straight-set victory over White. Rosen and Tran were both locked in three-set marathon matches that they ultimately won after losing the first set, with Rosen coming back to down freshman Adam Davis 1-6, 7-6 (6), 7-5 and Tran outlasting Drake 4-6, 6-2, 10-6.
"One of the bright spots of the match was the bottom of the lineup, where our guys played really well," Fleder said. "That was a highlight."
"Vinh Tran stepped it up and won his match, which was good for him," Gallin said. "The match was already over, but it was good for him to get a win anyway. It shows that we have depth when guys in the starting lineup go down."
Fleder fell 6-2, 6-2 at No. 1 singles to Gates, while sophomore Alex Caughron downed Keller 7-5, 7-5 at No. 2 and Anderson overwhelmed Kunkes 6-1, 6-0 in the fifth slot. Keller's relatively narrow loss provided the Jumbos with their best opportunity to capture a fifth and deciding match, but Caughron proved too much for the Jumbo tri-captain.
"He had a lot of chances but couldn't pull through against a really consistent player," Gallin said. "Both sets were really close."
"It was a very close match," Fleder said. "Unfortunately, the big points didn't go in our favor. On the big points, Bowdoin is going to be more comfortable playing on their home court, which gives them the advantage on those points."
Despite the loss, the Jumbos once again displayed their adeptness at capturing extended matches, with Rosen and Tran winning their longer matches in singles and Loh and McCooey taking No. 1 doubles in a tiebreaker.
"We won the close ones, so we think we're pretty mentally tough," Gallin said. "We're a team with a lot of fight, and we tend to play better when the match gets tight."
The Jumbos will take the court again Thursday to resume the match with the MIT Engineers, which was suspended after doubles play due to inclement weather on March 16. Tufts topped MIT 2-1 in doubles, with the six singles matches still lying ahead.
Had the MIT match not been rescheduled for this week, the squad would have had a longer-than-average 10-day break from match play, providing the Jumbos time to recover and return a healthy lineup to the court against Wheaton on April 17.
"It would have been a longer break than we've ever had before, but we're playing MIT on Thursday," Gallin said. "It's a full 10 days, which is good, so we can regroup and deal with these injuries."
