Women's tennis hosts season opener Tufts Invitational

Tufts opened its season at home this past weekend, slicing its way right into the thick of local competition against Wesleyan, Amherst and MIT in the Tufts Invitational.

Coming into this fall, Tufts embraced the challenge of rebuilding its team, having to fill several open spots.

“I’m really excited for [my] last year with Tufts tennis," senior co-captain Julia Keller said. "We have lots of hard work ahead of us but I can’t wait to get started. Even though we lost our amazing senior players, we have a bunch of talented and promising [first-years] coming in. I have a good feeling about this year."

The team features no juniors this year, though the other returners were more than happy to welcome in four new recruits, all of whom promise to make an immediate impact.

“Having four new recruits is really exciting, it feels like a new team to me,” sophomore Patricia Obeid said. “Our goal over the next few weeks is to get the first-years in the groove and take care of our bodies with so many matches coming up.”

Newcomers include first-years Nicole Frankel, Caroline Garrido, Anna Lowy and Maggie Dorr. Keller and fellow senior co-captain Mina Karamercan look forward to helping the first-years settle in, and were fortunate to be able to introduce them to the competitive college environment on the team's home courts.

Over the weekend, 32 singles players and 16 doubles teams served for supremacy on the Voute Courts. In fact, all teams present were ranked in the top 10 of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) poll last season, amplifying the stakes of the competition. 

“We have some really good first-years and the tournament last weekend was a good first event. We definitely could have done better — we always can — but we noticed many things we need to work on,” Karamercan said.

Senior Tomo Iwasaki and first-year Garrido both advanced to the round of 16 in singles, winning their respective first-round matches. Iwasaki, despite dropping her second set, battled back for a 10–6 tiebreaker win against sophomore Alissa Nakamoto of Wesleyan. Garrido pounced on MIT junior Lara Rakocevic in her college debut, winning 6–4, 6–1 in a straight-set sweep.

However, both lost their subsequent matches, with Iwasaki falling to Amherst's first-year Jacqueline Bukzin 6–4, 6–0 and Garrido to MIT sophomore Libby Rickeman 6–2, 6–1.

While the two Jumbos were able to muster wins in the opening rounds, much of the team put in its best work in the doubles and consolation brackets.

“I think we showed that we do have potential, though the results weren’t what we were striving for," Obeid said. "The doubles teams put up impressive performances, and the first-years certainly helped us close some matches."

Three doubles teams broke through the opening round, with Obeid and Garrido winning over Wesleyan's sophomore Polina Kiseleva and first-year Venia Yeung 8–7 (7–2). Meanwhile, first-year duo of Frankel and Dorr defeated MIT's Rakocevic and first-year Amber Shen 8–6, while Keller and Iwasaki breezed past Wesleyan's sophomore Zoe Klass-Warch and first-year Megan Tran 8–2. Unfortunately for the Jumbos, all three pairs fell in the next round. 

Meanwhile, six Jumbos vied for wins through the consolation matches on Saturday, but only sophomore Kiara Rose prevailed, topping Wesleyan sophomore Daniela Alvarez in a hard-fought three-setter. Rose bounced back after a shaky start, taking the second set and tiebreak decisively at 3–6, 6–3, 10–6.

Despite falling short, Keller and Obeid played highly competitive consolation matches and were proud to support their teammates. Keller fell to Amherst senior Camilla Trapness 6–7 (4–7), 6–4, 10–8 while Obeid lost to Wesleyan first-year Alexis Almy 2–6, 7–5, 10–5.

While the Jumbos do not compete this weekend, they will nonetheless look to build on their performance at home at the ITA Regional Championships hosted by Williams in Williamstown, Mass. the following weekend. There, they will most likely face a full lineup of NESCAC rivals including Wesleyan, Bowdoin, Amherst, Colby, Trinity and Middlebury, among other competitors.

“ITAs are always a fun event to be a part of and to get some official matches in before the spring starts," Karamercan said. "With almost half of our team being first-years, I’m excited to see how people are going to perform.”

For Obeid, the ITA tournament will be an opportunity to showcase the team’s raw talent and rise above expectations to achieve success.

“Heading into the ITA tournament, we’ve been working mostly on strategic doubles and fitness," she said. "We know we can compete with anybody, we just have to be fresh and in the right mindset."