Women's tennis played two NESCAC teams this past week, finding itself on the opposite ends of two lopsided final scores. Riding their longest winning streak of the season, the Jumbos attained their fourth straight win, beating Wesleyan on the road 9-0 this past Wednesday.
The tables were turned on Saturday, however, when Tufts hosted national No. 1 Williams, which came into the competition undefeated after 12 dual matches, including a 9-0 sweep of Wesleyan and a 7-2 victory over Middlebury. Over the weekend, the Ephs notched three consecutive shutout victories over NESCAC opponents, defeating Tufts on Saturday, and Hamilton and Trinity on Sunday.
Williams has won the last six NCAA Div. III Championships and currently holds the all-time Div. III record for most NCAA Championships at eight, a feat it achieved over a span of 13 years. This season, the team has recorded nine victories without dropping a match, and holds an overall record of 120-15 on the year.
The Ephs are led by senior co-captains Kara Shoemaker and Kathleen Elkins, both of whom are ranked within the top-50 Div. III players in the country. Shoemaker, who is ranked No. 16 in the nation, played in the No. 1 singles against Tufts senior captain Samantha Gann. After a tightly contested first set that saw Shoemaker barely edging past Gann 7-6 (6), Shoemaker finished the match strong, breaking Gann's serve three consecutive times en route to her 6-0 second set.
A similar story played out in the No. 2 singles. The No. 43-ranked Elkins faced off against Tufts freshman Alexa Meltzer, who challenged Elkins in the first set, pushing the score to 5-5 before Elkins broke Meltzer's serve to win the set 7-5. In the second set, Elkins improved her game, and Meltzer, like Gann, found herself on the losing end of a 6-0 score.
Freshman Conner Calabro and senior Shelci Bowman played at the No. 3 and No. 4 singles positions, bowing out to their opponents 6-1, 6-1 and 6-0, 6-3, respectively.
Freshman Jacqueline Baum and senior Rebecca Kimmel rounded out the singles matchups, battling through first-set jitters to challenge their opponents in the second set. Baum pushed Williams junior Monica Pastor to a second set tiebreak, eventually conceding a 6-1, 7-6 (5) defeat, while Kimmel battled Hannah Atkinson, one of only two freshmen in Williams' starting lineup, before bowing out 6-0, 7-5.
"In the first set, [Pastor] came out stronger than I [did]," Baum said. "She was being a lot more aggressive on the serve, but in the second set I started getting a little more control on the ball. Before that [point] it was just [Pastor] hitting winners, [but later] I was able to extend the rallies a lot more [and be] better at the longer points."
While the Jumbos are considered a relatively young team, with five of their nine players in their first season of collegiate tennis, the Ephs have just three freshmen on their 10-member roster.
Up against an established and successful tennis program, Tufts' 9-0 defeat at the hands of the reigning national champions should not be taken at face value. Four of the six singles matches involved Tufts' players posing definitive threats to Williams' players, with the possibility of pushing each of the matches into a third set. The No. 1 and No. 3 doubles, consisting of Bowman and Baum, and Calabro and sophomore Catherine Worley, respectively, also fought hard, but ultimately fell 8-4 both times.
"Conner [Calabro] has the best serve on the team, and she's a pretty big force at the net - she's like 5'10,"" Worley said. ""[But against Williams] we just hit the ball down the middle in doubles, and the Williams girls were able to pick that ball off and poach.""
While the loss caps Tufts' number of consecutive victories at four, its 9-0 sweep of Wesleyan is a testament to the strength of the women's tennis team. Against the Cardinals, the Jumbos only dropped one set and were led by their doubles play, which started the day at 3-0, giving the team a cushion heading into the singles matches.
Tufts did not take its three-game lead lightly, though. The Jumbos closed the door on the Cardinals without dropping one singles match.
The Jumbos' hunger and tenacity in games, and their ability to close out tight matches is becoming more evident as the season progresses, and was particularly impressive in the two matchups against the Cardinals. At No. 4 singles, Bowman recovered from dropping the second set 6-1 to edge past her opponent, junior Anna Howard, by a single break of serve in the third set, notching a 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 victory in the longest match of the day. At No. 3 doubles, Calabro and Worley were forced to play to nine games (doubles matches are typically played to eight games, but must be won by two) after the scored was tied at 7-7. They won the next two games for a final score of 9-7.12
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