So much for a sophomore slump.
After a freshman campaign that earned her regional Rookie of the Year and All-American honors, second-year Julia Browne showed no signs of slowing down this weekend as the women's tennis team opened its fall season at the ITA New England Championships at MIT. On Sunday, the fourth-seeded Browne topped the third seed, junior Leslie Hansen of the host Engineers, 7-5, 6-0 to claim the singles crown, thought to be the first such title won by a Jumbo in tournament history.
"In Julia's own words, she said, 'That was the best tennis I've ever played in my life,'" coach Kate Bayard said. "She played well in the first round, but she got better and better every match. By the final match, she was hitting a lot of put-away shots from the baseline and the net that I rarely see her use in matches, and she was hitting them over and over again. I was in awe of her tennis those last couple rounds."
Browne also teamed with junior captain Meghan McCooey to make a spirited run to the finals of the doubles tournament before bowing out in a tiebreaker to Williams' top-seeded duo of senior co-captain Cary Gibson and sophomore Nikki Reich.
After sailing through the first four rounds of the singles bracket without dropping a set, Browne earned her way into Sunday's semifinal showdown against Gibson, arguably the most formidable opponent of Browne's young career. The Eph All-American, who ended last year's spring season as the No. 2-ranked player in the nation, entered the tournament as the top seed. But Browne was up to the challenge, coming from behind to earn an impressive 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 victory over last year's tournament champion and a spot in the finals.
"The competition was really, really strong, and to have beaten [Gibson] was such a great accomplishment," Browne said. "I'm really excited about it and it gives me a lot of confidence because she's such a great player."
From there, it was on to the title bout against Hansen, who defeated McCooey by default in the quarterfinals of the same tournament a year ago. Browne, however, exacted a slight measure of revenge, downing Hansen in straight sets, 7-5, 6-0 to clinch the singles championship.
"I was very excited ... but it didn't really sink in then," Browne said. "I still wanted to stay focused because we had doubles coming up within the hour. At the time, I was excited for maybe a minute while they gave me my plaque, but now that the tournament's over, I'm going to give myself a chance to let it all sink in.
"It was an unbelievable weekend," she added.
Later in the day, Browne and McCooey nearly managed to give the Jumbos a clean sweep of both the singles and doubles titles as the duo pushed Gibson and Reich into a nail-biting doubles final. The Williams tandem was one game away from an easy victory after jumping out to a 7-3 lead, but Browne and McCooey refused to go quietly, storming all the way back to tie the score at 7-7 before eventually forcing a tiebreak.
Gibson and Reich prevailed in the end, however, taking the tiebreak 7-4 to earn the doubles crown. Despite the setback, the tournament was a positive experience for Browne and McCooey, who put up a strong showing in their first time paired together.
"Meghan and I just started playing together this year, but we're playing so well and it gives us a lot of hope and excitement for the rest of the season," Browne said. "It's always really upsetting to lose, but we're really proud of the way we played together and the way that we fought. We didn't hand it to them -- they really had to earn it, and in the end, it was a matter of just a couple points. It's definitely important for us to [put] that into perspective."
On their way to the title match, Browne and McCooey played in an equally thrilling semifinal against Amherst's second-seeded team of sophomore Natasha Brown and junior Brittany Berckes. Like the title match, the Tufts pair was forced to come from behind, this time after trailing 5-0 in a decisive tiebreak. Just two points from elimination, however, Browne and McCooey shifted the momentum, eventually taking an epic tiebreak 13-11.
"It was thrilling," Bayard said. "One thing I knew was that Julia and Meghan had the composure to win the tiebreaker. There was a point when they looked at each other and their body language was so clear -- they knew they had it. They were just that confident. The next couple points, they went after it at net and they won it. It was just really exciting."
Sophomore Edwina Stewart and freshman Jen Lavet were the Jumbos' other representatives at MIT, reaching the second round of both the singles and doubles tournaments. The fifth-seeded McCooey also participated in the singles tournament, falling in a 7-6 (4), 6-4 upset loss to unseeded junior Brett Davis of Bowdoin in the second round.
The Jumbos will next take the court on Thursday when they host the Engineers in the first of their two dual matches slated for the fall season. The Jumbos have had little trouble with MIT in recent years, picking up 8-1 victories over the team each of the past two falls.
Even with its tremendous success over the weekend, the team still sees room for improvement and views the match as an opportunity to continue honing its skills.
"I'm hoping that in doubles, each of the teams is going to execute the things we've been working on in practice," Bayard said. "We've been doing a lot of doubles work, just working on ... controlling the net and playing aggressive doubles.
"And in singles," she continued, "I'm hoping that they play high-percentage points and, at the same time, have the guts to attack on the right ball. So, basically, I'm hoping they'll play some smart tennis."
