While not yet over, the men’s tennis team has produced nothing short of a historic season, defined by intensity and domination. With a 17–1 overall record after taking down Connecticut College and Brandeis University on Saturday, Tufts remains undefeated 8–0 in the NESCAC and will face Colby and Amherst this coming weekend to battle for the top seed in the tournament.
In the Jumbos’ morning home match against the Camels, junior Sacha Maes won his No. 1 doubles match with junior Alex Ganchev, stomping on the Camels 6–2. Bridging the age gap, senior Derin Acaroglu and first-year Stavros Mastrogamvrakis pulled through with a 6–2 win, and No. 3 doubles, first-year Nico Tremblay and junior Aarush Ganji, joined the party and bageled the Camels.
On the singles side, No. 1 senior Vuk Vuksanovic bounced past his opponent with 6–3, 6–0 followed by Ganchev at No. 2 with a 6–1, 6–1 win. Maes took No. 3 singles 6–1, 6–0 and Tremblay won 6–0, 7–5 at No. 4. Sophomore Takehiro Shuda battled for his three-setter at No. 5, coming out on top 6–3, 2–6, 6–1 while No. 6 sophomore Davide Mirza won 6–3, 6–2.
While it was smooth sailing for the Jumbos, the team found it especially important to reflect on these kinds of matches moving into the homestretch of the season, with tournament play around the corner. “There is always something that can be learned from a match, no matter the level or outcome,” Maes wrote in an email to the Daily. “One thing I love about this team is that we are constantly pushing ourselves and each other to improve. Tennis is a game of inches, so if we don’t tirelessly find ways to learn from our matches and get better each and every day, those goals that we are looking to achieve will never become reality.”
After their morning match, Tufts headed to Waltham to face Brandeis for a second match in the same day, something that could be seen as a disadvantage, but is actually one of the team’s strengths. “Our team is so big and so deep that we could routinely play 2 matches in a day and have a good chance to win them both as we have so many strong players 1 through 16,” head coach Karl Gregor wrote in an email to the Daily. “At this point in the season (and with college tennis in general) you have a pretty good idea of what to expect from opponents based on recent past performance so there aren’t a ton of big surprises.”
The favorites going into the match, the Jumbos came out on top 5–2 over the Judges, with four players that had not played earlier also taking the court. Junior Javier Gonzalez worked with Vuksanovic for a 6–2 win at No. 1 doubles, contributing to the three wins giving the Jumbos the doubles point. First-year Eren Cheung finished first at No. 5 singles with a dominating 6–0, 6–1 performance, followed by sophomore Garv Bahl’s 6–1, 6–3 win at No. 3. Mastrogamvrakis pulled through next 6–1, 7–5, securing the fifth point for the team, one earned by a default at No. 6 singles. Junior Andrej Djokic battled back at No. 2 singles after losing his first set 2–6. He took the second 6–4, sending his match into a tiebreak since the team had already earned 4 points. Djokic narrowly lost the tiebreak 9–11 in a hard fought match overall. Acaroglu found himself in a battle, but lost 4–6, 2–6, leading to a final score of 5–2 for Tufts.
Looking ahead to the final NESCAC matches this weekend and the tournaments that follow, Gregor was proud of what the team has accomplished, but always sees room for improvement. “I still don’t feel like we’ve had a single match where we’ve been at what I consider to be our full strength with both everyone healthy and guys in the line up playing with full confidence, so in that sense I’m happy that we still have room to improve and get better,” he wrote. “My goal is always to have our team play with great energy and enjoyment as well as play up to our potential. If we do that I don’t think there’s anyone we can’t beat.”
In terms of specifics, the team will be working on fitness and mental toughness to prepare for longer competition in tougher matches and tournaments, according to Gregor. Although they have had a very successful season so far, the team does not want to step off the gas in any aspect of the game, even as individuals. “Going into matches we usually journal as a team and all of us write down what we want to work on specifically during the match,” Acaroglu wrote in an email to the Daily. “I like to look at what I wrote down before the match after the match to see if I was able to do what I wanted. If I was able to, I see that as a successful day, win or lose... so regardless of whether it's a sweep or not, I think all of us take it upon ourselves individually to grow from our matches.”
With crucial matches coming up, the team hopes to see support this weekend for Saturday’s 2 p.m. match against Colby and Sunday’s 2 p.m. against Amherst for senior day. With their only loss against the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, the number one team in the nation, Tufts will use all the momentum they have going into this weekend’s matches and the NESCAC and NCAA tournaments, staying laser-focused to try and prove themselves when it truly matters.
