Despite facing strong adversity at key points throughout their season, the Jumbos are back on track for a strong finish following last weekend's 6-3 defeat of local rival Brandeis.
With the departure of sophomore NikTelkedzhiev and prolonged injuries sidelining fellow classmates Jay Glickman and Rob Jacobson, the team has had to rely on the rest of the squad to step up. On Friday their hard work and dedication finally paid off as the Jumbos won two of three doubles matches and four of six singles matches.
While Telkedzhiev started the season at the No. 1 singles spot, it was Jacobson who had spent the most time in that position. Jacobson, who scratched his cornea while volunteering with Special Olympics, has been forced to watch as his team continued the season without him in the lineup. Jacobson relinquished his spot to Glickman, who was coming off an injury that had prevented him from playing for most of the spring season.
Though the unforeseen changes in the leading position weren't easy, players like freshman Brad Wong as well as junior co-captain Brian Tan have stepped up and posted consistent results.
Against Brandeis, Wong and Tan played at No. 2 and No. 3 spots, respectively, in dominant performances that saw them win 24 games combined while losing just five. They also paired up to take down the Brandeis duo of junior Michael Secular and freshman Brian Granoff by a final score of 8-6.
Wong had an especially convincing win. After blanking his opponent in the first set, the Californian dropped a single game in the second to emerge victorious 6-0, 6-1. Tan similarly dropped just four total games to win 6-1, 6-3.
In his second match back from injury, Glickman showed signs of improvement, but was still unable to come out with a win at the No. 1 position. Both sets were hotly contested, but due to the cumbersome recovery process necessitated by his injury, Glickman was denied the win in a 6-3, 6-3 loss. Glickman is still short of 100 percent health but is seeing progress with each passing day.
"Coming back after being sidelined for two months is definitely a process, but my recovery is going well and I'm feeling better each day I step out onto the court," Glickman said.
The toughest matches of the day were played at No. 4 and No. 5 singles, where seniors Austin Blau and Zach Ladwig went three sets deep in their respective matches.
Blau, playing at No. 4, dropped the first set before coming back to win the second. In the third set, his opponent, Brandeis freshman Ryan Bunis, regrouped and eventually won the match, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Ladwig faced different circumstances in his three-setter, a match that ended very differently from Blau's. After taking the first set in a tight 6-4 win, Ladwig lost the second set by the same score. In the third, the match came down to just a few points as Ladwig sealed the win with a final score of 6-4, 4-6, 10-7.
The roster difficulties have suited the squad. Different players have had to step up and play tougher matches at positions to which they are not accustomed, but their efforts have proven fruitful.
"The adversity we've faced throughout the year has given other players on the team opportunities to assume new roles," Glickman said. "Everybody has been doing a great job of stepping up, and this ... has been a key factor to our success."
Coming into the season, one of the team's main goals was to improve its ranking, and as the season's end approaches, it looks like it will have accomplished that.
"My win is just a testament to our team's effort and hard work as a whole, and so is our success in getting to be ranked No. 28 in the country," Tan said. "It was a really good win to beat Brandeis, who, being ranked No. 30, had just beaten No. 27 Trinity."
Going into the last stretch of the season, the Jumbos will play MIT on Wednesday before playing their last two conference matches against Colby and Middlebury on Friday and Sunday, respectively.
Both MIT and Colby have dropped out of the top 30 in the rankings; Colby previously held the No. 25 spot while MIT slipped from the No. 28 position. Middlebury sits comfortably inside the top-ten as the No. 8 ranked team in the nation.
"[The Brandeis win] will give us confidence going into the Colby and Middlebury matches this weekend," Tan said. We have complete faith in all the guys on the team. Someone different steps up every day to do it for the team."
