The women's tennis team faced off against No. 4 Amherst, suffering its second straight 9-0 loss on Tuesday. Amherst is currently second in the conference with an overall record of 11-3, and is the only other team besides defending national champions Williams that is undefeated in the NESCAC.
Doubles matches have been a huge determining factor for the Jumbos in the past few matches, and the team found itself down early on against the Lord Jeffs. Senior Shelci Bowman and freshman Jacqueline Baum faced off against Amherst's top duo of seniors, Gabby Devlin and Jordan Brewer, at No. 1 doubles.
Brewer and Devlin had come into the match 12-1, with their lone loss coming at the hands of the No. 2, Emory University's senior Gabby Clark and freshman Michelle Satterfield. With the exception of a tough 9-7 victory against No. 5 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, the pair had won all their matches with a score of 8-2 or better, a trend Bowman and Baum were unable to break, falling 8-1.
Tufts No. 2 doubles pair of freshman Alexa Meltzer and senior captain Samantha Gann met the same fate against Amherst's pair of quad-captains, seniors Jennifer Newman and Zoe Pangalos, falling 8-1. Newman and Pangalos, who have been partners since the start of the spring season, currently have an 8-5 doubles record.
The closest match of the day came at the No. 3 doubles as freshman Conner Calabro and classmate Chelsea Hayashi dueled the Amherst pair of junior Safaa Aly and sophomore Sarah Monteagudo, but were just barely beaten, 8-6. Aly and Monteagudo have notched 10 wins in 12 matches, and were formidable opponents for Hayashi, who was playing in her first game back after suffering a concussion against Colby on April 4.
"Emotionally, I would say that not being able to play for over a week made me have more intensity [in the game] and [have] a stronger desire to play," Hayashi said. "But not being on court for a week, I made some errors that going into this weekend I really [didn't] want to."
Amherst's top pair of Brewer and Devlin took the top two spots in singles, matching up against Gann and Meltzer respectively. Tufts' top two have had rough seasons individually with both of their singles records currently standing at 4-7. They were outmatched by their strong Amherst counterparts on Tuesday - Gann, 6-3, 6-0 and Meltzer, 6-2, 6-1.
Calabro once against played the closest singles match of the day, but was edged at No. 3 singles by Newman, 7-6 (4), 6-1. With the loss, Calabro's singles record falls to 8-3 for the season.
"[Newman] has a great record; Alexa [Meltzer] played her in the fall and the coaches gave me tips before the game and I think I played very well in the first set," Calabro said. "She's a solid player. She didn't give me any free points [and] every point I played, I earned it. I think we only broke serve once in the first set and it was only a matter of one missed shot in the tiebreak. But it's really hard to compare [win-loss records between players]. Every team that comes out is different."
Bowman and Baum played at No. 4 and No. 5 singles respectively, both losing in straight sets against their Lord Jeff opponents. Bowman bowed out to sophomore Sue Ghosh, 6-1, 6-1 and Baum was beaten, 6-3, 6-3. Senior Rebecca Kimmel rounded out the singles lineup for the Jumbos, but was dealt a 6-4, 6-4 loss by Monteagudo.
The Jumbos are now 7-7 overall this season with a 3-3 conference record, placing them in the middle of the NESCAC rankings, sixth of eleven teams. The team has a busy conference-filled schedule as they take on both Trinity and Bates this Saturday, Apr. 19 at 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., respectively.
The team, which has made it to the NESCAC Championship and NCAA tournament in recent years, will be focusing its attention on Trinity this weekend. While Trinity currently stands further down in the conference with a record of 2-3, its national ranking of No. 15 is three spots higher than Tufts.
"Trinity is a huge match, because, essentially, if we beat Trinity we have a much better chance of getting into the [NCAA] tournament," Hayashi said. "The past few matches have been very tough ones, especially coming off two losses, but this weekend we have a lot of desire to win and do well."
