Now the real season begins for the women's tennis team.
The Jumbos will travel to Middlebury today to take on Wesleyan in the first round of the NESCAC Tournament. Third-seeded Tufts compiled a 10-5 record over the year while going 6-2 in conference play.
"Our ultimate goal is to win the tournament," sophomore Meghan McCooey said. "We know it won't be easy, so we'll just work hard. We have to work on our shots and our mental toughness."
The Jumbos' only two conference losses came against Amherst and Williams, who both earned first-round byes for this weekend. Tufts has not faced the sixth-seeded Cardinals since 2004, a match that Tufts won 9-0.
"We haven't played them this year, but they're solid," coach Kate Bayard said. "They beat Trinity, which is a good team. I know a couple of their top players. I've seen them play, and we'll have to earn the win."
As a reference point, Wesleyan beat Trinity 5-4 earlier this month, while Tufts won all but a single match against the Bantams last Saturday. Whereas Tufts is ranked No. 13 nationally, the Cardinals are the only unranked team in the tournament.
Tufts has been successful thus far on the strength of its singles play at the top of the lineup and doubles play at the bottom. McCooey has won 10 consecutive singles matches, and she was moved into the first singles slot against Trinity.
McCooey is likely to play Wesleyan junior Ania Preneta, whom McCooey beat 6-0, 6-0 at the ITA Regional Tournament in the fall season.
Freshman Julia Browne also won her most recent match, a 6-1, 6-0 victory at second singles last weekend. Browne was moved down in the lineup after losing three of her matches, but she's proven herself against stiff competition. In a 7-2 loss to Amherst on April 8, Browne pushed Amherst's top singles player to a third-set tiebreak.
"They're both playing really well," Bayard said. "Either one of them could play in the one or two spot. Meghan played ahead in the fall, so either can step in. They've both responded no differently. They don't think about where they're playing - they just go out and do it. They respond like champs. We all know the sixth spot counts the same as the first."
Sophomore Erica Miller will play third singles, where she has not dropped a set in three consecutive matches, while Cenko is slotted fourth. Cenko has proven adept at pulling out close matches of late; she is 8-2 in her last 10 matches, seven of which have gone to tiebreakers.
Junior Mari Homma, Cenko's doubles partner, will play fifth singles. The duo has been tried against numerous nationally ranked opponents this season at first doubles, and have fared respectably though their record stands at below the .500 mark.
Wesleyan and Tufts use a similar lineup tactic by spreading out their top singles players throughout doubles. Preneta, who has won four of her last five matches at first singles, plays at third doubles.
Browne also has shared time for Tufts at first singles and third doubles. Tufts has been strong at second doubles, where sophomores Erica Miller and McCooey have won nine of their last 10 matches.
"We've worked a lot on court awareness in doubles," Bayard said. "It just basically means recognizing whether they're in a defensive or offensive situation and selecting shots accordingly. We've definitely become more confident in recognizing a defensive situation and also capitalizing on offensive opportunities.
"In singles, we've worked on approach shots. The team is making huge strides at net because of all the focus at doubles. We have to exploit advantages at singles. The key will be the combination in which we play the point. However many times it takes to set up the point, we have to approach well and then finish."
The bottom of the lineup for Tufts has yet to be determined. Last weekend, sophomore co-captain Laura Hoguet and freshman Edwina Stewart took turns playing at sixth singles with Browne at third doubles.
"We've been playing around with things [in practice] the last day or two, and tomorrow as well," Bayard said. "I don't announce the lineup to the team until the day before the match, and we're still playing around with things. Even tomorrow, I might switch things up, and if we win the first round, we might switch things around. We feel good with either one playing in either position."
Tufts will appear in the championship field for the third consecutive season, seeking to reach the semifinals for the first time in program history.
Last year, the Jumbos lost 5-2 to Williams in the first round of NESCACs and were eliminated by the Ephs again in the third round of Nationals.
National No. 2 Williams holds the top seed and has already beaten every team in the tournament this year, but the Ephs lost to current No. 3 Amherst in last year's final. Last year, the Jumbos lost 5-4 to the Lord Jeffs; they fell 7-2 this season.
"Based on last match with Amherst, I really feel like we have a shot with every team," Bayard said. "It's stiff competition. Five of the six teams in are in the top 15 in the country which is impressive, and six is solid as well.
"We have to approach every match the same way, regardless of who we're playing. Whether it's a team we're expected to beat or a team ranked first in the country, it's just important to approach every match same way, taking care of business one point at a time."
The other half of the bracket pits Bowdoin against Middlebury, with the winner set to take on Williams. The Jumbos would face Amherst on Saturday if they emerged from the first round, and the finals are set for Monday.
