The women's tennis team won the first of its two dual matches of the fall season, trouncing previously-unbeaten MIT, 7-2 yesterday evening at Vouté Courts.
After taking two out of three doubles matches, the Jumbos sealed the deal thanks to three freshmen – Jen Lavet, Jen LaCara and Nat Schils – who helped Tufts sweep the bottom half of the singles lineup. Lavet and Schils cruised at fourth and sixth singles, respectively, surrendering a total of just eight games to their MIT foes.
At fifth singles, LaCara found herself in a first-set battle with Engineer freshman Alex Hall, who opened up a 5-4, 40-love lead. But LaCara staved off all three set points and, in the process, turned the momentum in her favor. She went on to steal the first set 7-5 before taking the second set by a decisive 6-2 margin.
"It was so nice to see them all step up in the first match of the season," junior captain Meghan McCooey said. "It was the first matches of their career, so I think it'll great that they have some confidence for the rest of the season and into the spring. It was great that they came out excited and ready to play and got the job done for us."
The most exciting match of the evening came at third singles, where sophomore Edwina Stewart of Tufts and Engineer sophomore Melissa Diskin played a two-and-a-half-hour marathon that lasted deep into a deciding third-set super tiebreaker. After each side survived at least a couple of match points, Stewart eventually pulled away with a 19-17 victory in her first-ever match above fifth singles.
"This was a huge breakthrough match for Edwina mentally," coach Kate Bayard said. "Today was a real exercise in patience, and it really tested her, but she stayed strong. I think this match is going to really help her going forward, just giving her confidence when it comes to playing against players who are consistent. She really put together an impressive showing today."
"Obviously I was really excited about it," Stewart said. "I tend to struggle with such high-ranked players, but basically I just fought for every point, and I eventually pulled it out. She was really solid, and it was really hard to beat her."
The contest also featured a marquee matchup at first singles, where sophomore Julia Browne of Tufts and junior Leslie Hansen of MIT, each ranked among the top-15 players in the nation, met for the second time in the past week. Like Sunday, when the two squared off in the finals of the ITA New England championships, the 15th-ranked Browne breezed past No. 8 Hansen, this time by a 6-3, 6-1 score.
The Jumbos' lone singles setback came courtesy of MIT freshman Anastasia Vishnevetsky, who upset the nation's 16th-ranked player, junior captain Meghan McCooey, 6-3, 6-0. After reaching the semifinals at the national singles tournament last spring, McCooey has had a bit of slow start to the fall, also losing in the second round of last weekend's ITA New England championships.
"I'm not worried at all," Bayard said. "The key thing to remember is that the most important part of the team season is in the spring, and I know that as the season progresses into the spring, she'll just continue to get stronger every time she steps out there…I think her singles will come back soon."
Vishnevetsky was at it again in first doubles, when she paired up with Hansen to take down Tufts' tandem of Browne and Stewart – who went a perfect 10-0 as a third doubles team last spring – by a 9-7 count.
After seeing promising signs from the pairing of Browne and McCooey at ITA's last weekend – the two reached the doubles championship match in their first-ever tournament together – Bayard decided to split up her top two players in an attempt to win at least two of the three doubles matches. The move worked, as the duo of McCooey and Lavet cruised to an 8-2 victory at second doubles, while junior Laura Hoguet and Schils took an exciting contest at third doubles, 9-8 (3).
"I wanted to come up with three combinations that would give us the best shot of winning the match as a team," Bayard said. "When I made the lineup initially, I thought about putting Meghan and Julia together for this match…but then I decided it made sense to split them up. It was as much about how good a team Meghan and Jen Lavet make as much as it was about Julia and Edwina. We have a lot of possibilities with our doubles; I think there are multiple good combinations."
The Jumbos will be back on the court tomorrow, when they travel to Vermont for the Middlebury Doubles Tournament. Browne will be paired up with McCooey this time around for Tufts, which will also send teams of Lavet and Stewart, LaCara and sophomore Hillary Rosen, and Hoguet and Schils.
"It's exciting to have an all-doubles tournament because doubles is certainly the main thing we focus on for the fall," Bayard said. "I'm going to be much more focused on what they're doing out there – taking some risks, trying some new things – than what the end result will be. We've been doing a lot of new things with the doubles, and it's a good amount of information for them to take in. I'm really excited to see them try these new plays and execute them."
