After a weekend of traveling, the Tufts women’s tennis team returned to Medford after taking down Hamilton 5–2 and falling just short to Amherst 4–3. The team, composed of seven underclassmen and seven upperclassmen, is eager to dive into the final stretch of their regular season with a busy April filled with NESCAC opponents. Matches are determined by six singles matches to the best of three sets and three doubles matches in a one-set format. Each singles match counts for 1 point, with an additional point awarded to the team that takes at least two of the doubles matches.
The Jumbos have been training hard, focusing on applying their skills during matches and minimizing thoughts about winning or losing. “We have been focused on our preparation and staying in the moment throughout each match,” head coach Kate Bayard wrote in an email to the Daily. “We work to have the same expectations going into every match, approaching each match with productive thoughts and actions about things we can control, while throwing any categorizations or end result expectations out the window.”
The Hamilton match featured a sweep in the doubles matches and wins from the No. 2, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 seeds in singles. No. 1 junior Ellie Gershaw pulled out a fight of a first set 7–6 going 9–7 in the tiebreaker, but then fell 6–2, 6–2 in the only three-setter of the match. No. 2 junior Lucy Mitchell and No. 4 sophomore Natalie Hu came home with twin winning scores of 6–2, 6–3, while No. 3 first-year Athena Li fell 6–1, 6–0. No. 5 junior Nikki Kintiroglou topped her opponent in two nailbiter sets, winning both tiebreakers to secure the match in a 7–6, 7–6 thriller. Finally, No. 6 senior Sophie Wax took down her opponent with a pair of 6–4 sets, bringing her personal season singles record to 6–1.
“Hamilton has super fast courts and so we wanted an extra long warmup on their courts before the match,” Mitchell wrote in an email to the Daily reflecting on the match. “That definitely paid off and helped us ultimately secure the win.”
While the Jumbos fell in the battle of large mascots against the Mammoths, the match was up in the air, especially in the No. 1 doubles spot with Hu and junior Stephanie Woodbury. With a one-set format to decide doubles matches, the team fell 7–6 in a tiebreaker that went to 7–5. The team split the other two doubles matches, giving a point to Amherst. First-year Melanie Woodbury took the win at No. 1 singles in a 10-point tiebreaker to decide the third set after battling in a second-set tiebreaker to stay alive. The two other wins came from Li at No. 5 with a three-setter and Hu at No. 6.
Going into the Amherst match, preparation was more mental, according to Mitchell. “We’ve had close losses to them the last two years, so it was a matter of belief and also of making sure to keep our energy up after a long weekend on the road. We lost a close one to Amherst — losing the doubles point is always a difficult way to start the match — but we’re hoping to face them again later in the season and get it back,” Mitchell wrote.
Heading into the rest of the season, Tufts will face Wesleyan, who has won the NESCAC championship trophy for six straight years. “I’m looking forward to playing Wesleyan this weekend,” Mitchell wrote. “They’re usually the strongest team in the NESCAC and I think it’ll be a good challenge for us. I’m also excited for the NESCAC tournament, and hopefully qualifying for NCAA’s afterwards. We’ve narrowly missed out on qualifying the past two years, but we’ve come back with a much stronger team this year.”
Already having moved from the No. 16 spot to No. 11 since the beginning of the year, according to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division III rankings, the Jumbos look to remain one of the best teams in the country. Their strategy of staying in the moment and focusing on one match at a time will soon be put to the test against tough NESCAC competition, with home matches against No. 52 Trinity on Friday at 1 p.m. and No. 4 Wesleyan on Saturday at 10 a.m.
