The Tufts men’s tennis team made the short trip to Cambridge this past Saturday to compete in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Invitational. The invitational provided the team with an early opportunity to break into the 2024–25 season with competitive exhibition matches against DI and DIII programs. The team was geared up to play tennis and ferociously brought it to the courts over the course of the day.
The team was abuzz coming into the season. Despite a packed summer for many of the team’s players as senior captain Derin Acaroglu noted, they came to practice healthy and ready to get to work.
“We all had jobs and were all very busy, so sometimes it’s not that easy to train, but I think all of us did a really good job of playing as much as we could in the summer,” he said. “Honestly, we were all just really excited to just come back. … That excitement turned into us working really hard to start the year.”
Due to MIT’s rained out courts, however, the team returned to Gantcher Center to host the remainder of the weekend’s games.
The setback had no effect on the team’s optimism, and — planning to make waves among strong competition — their enthusiasm continued throughout the day. The team battled through a long but rewarding 14-hour day, featuring some standout exhibition matches up against NESCAC rivals Amherst and Bowdoin.
According to Acaroglu, the Jumbos fought tooth and nail to edge out a close match 5–4 against the Mammoths — winning singles 4–2, but falling short in doubles 2–1. Bowdoin, who topped Tufts in the finals of the NESCAC tournament last spring, could not overcome the Jumbos in doubles, losing 3–0, but drew singles 3–3 to end the match in a 6–3 Tufts win.
Also impressive was a sweep of Babson in doubles, a sweep of DI Merrimack College in singles and a win over host MIT in doubles, according to Acaroglu.
Coming out of the weekend with amazing results, the Jumbos know they can improve on their last stellar season by using the fall as a building block for the loaded NESCAC spring season.
“We had most of our guys who were playing come back, which is great,” Acaroglu said. “Obviously, we lost a key senior class, and they will be missed. But I think this year we have all the ingredients to make a really deep push.”
Now, the Jumbos look to their headline tournament of the fall with the upcoming Intercollegiate Tennis Association DIII New England Regionals. Fortunately, Tufts will be hosting the event this year, taking place this weekend.
“It’s a pleasure, we’re hosting this year. … Hopefully we’ll get some people out there,” Acaroglu said. “It’s definitely going to be fun.”
The Jumbos will field some singles and doubles players looking to make it past Regionals. Senior Vuk Vuksanovic will enter the tournament as one of the top seeds, according to Acaroglu, preparing to make a deep run. He made an appearance in the semifinals of the NCAA DIII Singles Championship last spring, and will now be accompanied by Acaroglu, senior Lachie Macintosh and juniors Alex Ganchev and Javier Gonzalez.
Vuksanovic will play with Acaroglu as one of the top doubles seeds, as the former is also coming off a quarterfinal appearance in last spring’s NCAA DIII Doubles Championship.
A strong start to the season might be all the momentum the Jumbos need to carry into the ITA tournament and the rest of fall exhibition matches. Following the preseason, team morale is clearly high and their performances have reflected that.
“Obviously, it’s our last year. … So hopefully we can be good examples for the rest of the guys,” Acaroglu said of the team’s three senior captains. “But the talent is there, I think we all know that. We’re a very talented bunch, and we have all the singles guys and the doubles guys. So right now, let’s just keep working hard and put it all together, and see what we can do.”
Look to find the men’s tennis team battling it out at the ITA DIII New England Regionals this weekend in Medford.
