Tufts defeats Williams for first time since 1989

The men’s tennis team defeated No. 20 Bates College yesterday afternoon 7-2 and NESCAC rival No. 14 Williams College 6-3 on Sunday to improve to 8-6 on the season and 4-3 in the NESCAC. It was the first time the Jumbos have defeated the Williams Ephs since 1989.

The No. 30 Jumbos began the match with their signature strong play in doubles, sweeping behind an 8-5 victory from junior Nik Telkedzhiev and first-year Rohan Gupte in the No. 1 match, an 8-4 victory from junior Nick Cary and sophomore Benjamin Battle in the No. 2 spot and a final victory of 8-5 from first-years Zain Ali and Griffin Brockman on the final court.

The Jumbos then went on to win three of the six singles matches to take the 6-3 victory. Gupte defeated Williams’ junior Rohan Shastri 6-4 and 6-3 on the second court to put a Jumbo victory within reach. Junior co-captain Rob Jacobson and Jay Glickman then secured the victory with 6-4, 7-5 and 6-2, 6-4 wins, respectively.

The victory over the Ephs was Tufts’ fourth win in a row after the team suffered a five match losing streak earlier this month. After a 0-3 start in the NESCAC and a last-place position in the standings, the Jumbos won their next four matches, moving into sixth place and play-off contention.

The past weekend was extremely busy for the Jumbos, as they played four matches in three days. The players knew if they wanted to have any chance of competing for a spot in the postseason they would have to win the majority of those games, but few expected to win all four.

“It feels very good,” coach Karl Gregor said, “It was a very busy and challenging weekend, but our team had been prepping for that the whole week. We knew it was going to take a 15-person team effort, because there is just no way we could have our starters play four matches in four days. It was great that we dug further down in our lineup and had our non-starters step up, and then our normal top six guys stayed sharp and really peaked against Williams. The reason we were able to beat Williams was because the whole team believed we could, and everyone went out and did their part.”

Gupte acknowledged that the team was feeling pressure going into the weekend.

“Honestly, we were on the ropes,” Gupte said. “We knew we had to win matches to make the NESCACs, but I am glad that we came through.”

Tufts began the weekend with a solid 7-2 win against Colby on Friday. The Jumbos then took on the Conn. College Camels on Saturday, defeating them in a convincing fashion as well, losing only in the No. 1 singles match. Sunday proved to be a super day for the players, as they had a match against Washington and Lee University in the morning and against Williams in the late afternoon. After defeating No. 32 Washington and Lee 8-1, Tufts capped off the weekend by making history with its win over Williams.

The victory over Williams was extremely special for a Tufts team that had often been unable to compete with the four-time national champions over the past several decades.

“It is definitely a great feeling,” Jacobson said. “It’s a culmination of all the hard work that we have put in this season and that the upperclassmen have put in for the last three years. We have a new coach and a new culture around this team, and we’re not going to just roll over to a team like Williams. We played great tennis and came out with a great result, so we’re all pretty thrilled about that.”

Ali was also excited about the victory, but insisted that it’s most important for the Jumbos to maintain focus.

“I hadn’t really thought about all that before,” Ali said, speaking about the Jumbos’ rare win over the Ephs.

Tufts’ last opponent is No. 8 Bowdoin, another strong team that sports an 11-4 record and a 4-3 record in the NESCAC.

“We have to continue playing confidently,” Ali said. “It’s nice to go into this playing on a four-match winning streak, but we have to play like it’s our last match.”

The Jumbos will look to rely on their leadership and growing experience as the most important part of their season approaches.

“Definitely having Rob and [senior co-captain Brian Tan] at the helm has helped, especially during the tough part of the season,” Gupte said.

“They reassured us that we are good players, and even though things don’t go our way sometimes, it is important to keep practicing and working on getting better and thank God we were able to get a win streak going.”

Gregor is also pleased with the leadership and growth of the team.

“The team really took accountability and responsibility to do the little things and to put it on themselves,” Gregor said. “It was due to the strong leadership of Rob and Brian, who are doing a ton of things behind the scenes to keep the team tight-knit and keep the morale up. That is way beyond anything I am doing, and the whole group has bought into what it takes to be successful. It’s not over, but we’ve taken the first steps and hopefully it continues.”

Tufts will face off at Bowdoin on Friday at 1:00 p.m. for the team’s final match of the regular season.