The Tufts women’s tennis team, ranked No. 10 nationally, pushed its record to 8–2 overall and 3–2 in the NESCAC with a strong two weeks that included three dominant wins against Babson, Brandeis and Connecticut College, along with a tightly contested defeat against Wesleyan.
The Jumbos kicked off their home season with a match against the Babson Beavers on April 3. Tufts won all of the doubles matches, with senior Nicki Frankel and sophomore Rebecca Lim delivering a resounding 8–1 victory on the No. 3 court. The No. 2 pairing of junior Madeline Suk and sophomore Zoe Kava earned an 8–2 win, while junior Casey Cummings and first-year Elle Christensen earned the final doubles victory by a score of 8–5 in the No. 1 matchup.
The Jumbos continued their dominance throughout the singles matchups, only dropping one point after Christensen was forced to retire on the No. 1 court against the Beavers’ Olivia Stoffer. Lim would clinch the match for Tufts with a 6–0 victory over Morgan Mann. After four other two-set victories, the dust would settle on an 8–1 Jumbos win.
The same day, six other Jumbo players traveled to Connecticut College for a road tilt against the Camels. The other half of the Jumbo squad delivered an equally emphatic 9–0 win, with the Camels not earning a single set in the singles matches.
In doubles, juniors Kennedy May and Michelle Shub earned an 8–1 win to start the day, while the duos of seniors Maggie Dorr and Caroline Garrido as well as sophomore Kristin Shiuey and first-year Sophie Wax both defeated their opponents 8–3.
“Our team is very deep,” Garrido said. “We all feel confident enough that [we could] split the team in half, and we had two very decisive wins.”
On April 5, the Jumbos welcomed the Brandeis Judges to the Lower Campus Courts, promptly seeing them off with another 9–0 victory. With the full squad back together, it was Dorr and Garrido who delivered during the first doubles match, earning a hard-fought 8–6 win over Bhakti Parwani and Sabrina Loui.
The duos of Kava and Suk and Frankel and Lim earned 8–2 wins on the No. 2 and No.2 courts, respectively, to complete the doubles sweep. Cummings provided a 6–1, 6–0 victory at third singles, while Lim officially clinched the match for Tufts with a 6–0, 6–2 win over the Judges’ fifth singles player Jiayi Zhang.
The Jumbos returned to NESCAC play for a matchup versus the undefeatedNo. 5 Wesleyan Cardinals in what was sure to be a tight affair between two teams ranked nationally in the top 10.
Dorr and Garrido continued their strong play on the No. 2 doubles court, taking an 8–3 win over Sophie Henderson and Nika Vesely. Suk and Kava ensured that Tufts held the lead moving into singles play with an 8–5 victory, while Christensen and junior Tilly Rigby were bested on the No. 1 court, 8–6.
Rigby battled from behind at No. 1 singles to earn a 2–6, 6–3, 7–5 win over Caitlyn Ferrante, while Cummings earned the only other singles win for the Jumbos on the No. 4 court.
However, the Cardinals took the remaining four singles matches to take the match, with Katie Fleischman clinching with a 6–2, 3–6, 6–4 victory over the Jumbos’ Frankel.
Despite the loss, the competitive nature of the match left Tufts feeling confident as it finishes up regular season play and looks toward the postseason.
“We believe that we’re probably going to face [Wesleyan] again in NESCACs,” Garrido said, “Next time it can go either way, and hopefully it will go in our favor.”
Tufts returns to conference play with a home match against the No. 15 Bowdoin on Saturday, April 16.
Alexander Janoff contributed reporting to this article.
