Jumbos best Judges in prolonged Wednesday battle

The Jumbos are off to a 5-1 start to the season, defeating the Brandeis Judges 6-3 in their first home match of the season. Prior to that, the No. 12 Tufts spent spring break in California and came out with a 4-1 record, initially beating Oberlin 8-1, Carleton 9-0, No. 21 Wisconsin Whitewater 9-0, and No. 6 Chicago 6-3 in a four-game winning streak. The team then lost 7-2 to No. 4 Pomona-Pitzer.

Coming out of the spring break trip, sophomore Tomo Iwasaki said the team had much to be pleased about, especially in terms of its fitness levels.

“Everyone’s a lot more in shape than when we started last year,” Iwasaki said. “We worked really hard in the off-season and it definitely showed on the court. We had four matches in a row during spring break, but I never saw anyone losing because they were tired, I never saw anyone fatigued during matches, which is really impressive.”

Spring break helped the team get back to basics on its singles and doubles play, according to head coach Kate Bayard.

“We’ve been working on being more assertive at the net and we’ve also been working on settling into the teams, getting used to their partners,” Bayard said. “I’ve seen a huge difference over the last week and in the singles, it varies from person to person. Our goal is to really make our opponents work for the points they win, and for us to have the mentality that every ball is going to be returned. We have to earn every point we really win. Staying feisty is the main thing.”

The team looks to improve on its 12-8 record from last season. As the team did not graduate any seniors last year, the roster of 14 is the largest in recent years.

As a result, Iwasaki said the team has much to be excited about.

“Our games are a little more solid,” she said. “Our line-up has a lot of depth skill-wise, just because we have so many more people. I think our team is more motivated than ever before, which is really exciting.”

Tufts recorded a 6-3 win during its first home match of the season after a marathon match-up that lasted over six hours. No. 18 Brandeis took a 2-1 lead after doubles matches, with Tufts losing its matches after tightly fought contests.

The No. 1 pair of senior Jacqueline Baum and sophomore Mina Karamercan lost 8-6 to sophomore Olivia Levitt and first-year Sabrina Ross Neergaard, while the No. 2 pair of first-year Katherine Wiley and sophomore Otilla Popa also lost. The third doubles pair of senior co-captain Conner Calabro and Iwasaki, however, won 8-3 against sophomores Michele Lehat and Keven Khromchenko.

Karamercan then recovered from her doubles defeat to win 6-0, 6-4 over Ross Neergaard, while junior Lauren Louks took hers to three sets to eventually seal a 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 victory over junior Haley Cohen. Iwasaki lost in three, but Wiley took her match 6-4, 6-4 over Leavitt to give Tufts a 4-3 lead.

The victory was sealed when senior co-captain Alexa Meltzer secured a straight-sets 6-2, 6-4 victory over sophomore Sophia He in the fifth singles match-up on the day. The marathon match-up was complete when Calabro defeated Lehat 6-2, 6-0.

Tufts went into its first home match of the season with a 7-2 defeat at the hands of No. 4 Pomona-Pitzer on Friday. Tufts was unable to make any progress in the doubles matches despite coming close. Wiley and Popa lost 8-6 against the No. 14 pairing of sophomores Caroline Casper and Arianna Chen, while Iwasaki and Calabro pushed the No. 7 pairing of junior Grace Hruska and sophomore Joy Kim to extra games before falling 9-7.

Tufts’ only victories of the day came from Iwasaki, who recorded a comfortable 6-1, 6-2 victory over senior Samantha Mae Coyiuto, and Calabro, who beat the No. 33 Hruska 7-6(5), 6-2.

A day before, Tufts upset the sixth best team in the nation, University of Chicago, in Claremont, Calif. However, on Thursday, the Jumbos were able to build on the foundations of last season and swept the doubles match-ups. The singles matches were also closely fought, with three matches going the distance.

Calabro overcame No. 31 first-year Estefania Navarro 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. The other three-set matches, however, went against Tufts. In a rematch from last year, it was No. 20 junior Ariana Iranpour who came out on top this year over Louks, defeating the Jumbo 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(4). The other highlight of the day came when Karamercan upset No. 11 first-year Marjorie Antohi 6-4,6-1.

The start to the spring break trip saw the Jumbos record comfortable victories over their opponents. The 9-0 sweeps of Carleton College and Wisconsin Whitewater were preceded by a season-opening 8-1 victory over Oberlin.

Meltzer made her return to competitive action after being injured at the backend of last year with a comfortable 6-1, 6-1 victory over junior Jackie McDermott. In general, each Jumbo was able to hold their opponent to less than two games in each set against Oberlin, setting the tone for the rest of the break.

Metzer noted that the team's singles play led to much of the Jumbos' success that day.

“What we were working on a lot of was taking charge of our game plan and closing it out in the second set, and I think we did a great job with that," she said. "People who had a tight first set were able to then really keep the pressure on and finish it in the second set, which I thought was something we had been working on and did a lot of in California.”

The team returns to action with a NESCAC double-header at Bates and Colby on Saturday.