After sweeping Salve Regina last week in its opening match of the season, the Tufts men's tennis team faced its first NESCAC competition of the year at the Wilson/Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) New England Championships at Williams College on Saturday. While no player or doubles team advanced past the second round, the Jumbos felt positive about the results, especially as they had come up against formidable conference opposition.
"The NESCAC teams were very strong," freshman Andrew Lutz said. "They had well-seasoned players in both singles and doubles, and this weekend we got a taste of just how good they are."
The Jumbos had two first-round match winners. Sophomore Sam Laber beat Bates sophomore Jeff Beaton in a 6-2, 6-2 straight set victory before falling in the second round to Middlebury junior Andy Peters, 6-2, 6-3.
Sophomore Kai Victoria also had a solid performance, winning his first round match against Wheaton College sophomore Neall Oliver in a come-from-behind victory, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. In the second round, Victoria faced the tournament's No. 2 seed, Amherst sophomore Austin Chafetz. The upset task was too tall an order, as Victoria lost 6-2, 6-0.
After his impressive debut at Salve Regina last week, freshman Andrew Lutz continued to display strong potential, but he was dropped 7-6 (4), 6-2 in a competitive first-round match versus Middlebury sophomore Eric Vehovec.
On the doubles side of the tournament, both the Jumbos' teams were unable to advance beyond their opening matches. Pitted against the tournament's No. 1 seeded team, Victoria and freshman Ben Barad lost to the Bowdoin tandem of senior Jamie Neely and sophomore Oscar Pena 8-3. The Tufts duo also came up short in Saturday's consolation play, losing a closer 9-8 match against sophomore Phillip Zunshine and freshman Dan Freeman of Colby. The pairing of Lutz and sophomore Morrie Bossen also lost in the first round, falling 8-4 to Amherst freshman Alex Kim and senior Dan Kim.
Though the team did not advance to the last day of the tournament, this weekend provided a good overview of the competition the Jumbos will face for the rest of the season.
"We have a nice base so far, and we know how our conference is and what we have to do to get better for the rest of the fall and spring seasons," Lutz said.
Senior Dan Landers added that the team also sent many young players to the tournament.
"Hopefully the underclassmen learned a lot and gained some experience," Landers said. "I don't think the results matter all that much, because it's what they take from the match that's important."
With three matches left in the brief fall season, the team looks to improve as much as possible in practice over the coming weeks, particularly in doubles.
"Especially against some of the good teams, the difference-maker always seems to be doubles," Lutz said. "Being up 3-0 in the match versus being down 0-3 is a big difference, both in confidence and the score. So doubles is definitely the key to getting ahead."
With this in mind, the team has been working on finding effective doubles pairings, placing emphasis on consistency, communication, aggression and technique.
On Saturday, the Jumbos will travel to Babson to take on the host Beavers in the morning and the MIT Engineers in the afternoon.
"While you can never underestimate a team, Babson isn't as strong as any of the NESCAC teams," Lutz said. "We hope to win a convincing match without too much pressure, so we'll work hard this week to ensure that we can do that."
MIT, however, should provide a much greater challenge. At the end of last season, MIT beat Tufts to drop the Jumbos out of the 30th spot in the national rankings. While Tufts hopes to exact revenge on Saturday, it knows MIT will have a competitive set of singles players. As a result, the Jumbos are counting on their doubles tandems — and especially the younger members of the team — to establish an early lead.
"MIT has some strong recruits and overall a very strong team," said Landers. "Hopefully our freshmen come through and we get a good win."
