Browne and McCooey head to ITA Nationals

Tri-captains Julia Browne and Meghan McCooey of the women's tennis team will team up once again at the ITA Small College National Championships this weekend in Mobile, Ala., looking to defend the doubles title they captured there a year ago. The duo drew the No. 2 seed for the tournament, which features the winners of the eight ITA regional tournaments that were held in September. At the New England championships, Browne and McCooey beat out a field of the region's 32 best doubles teams, winning a come-from-behind thriller against Williams' Grace Baljon and Taylor French in the final.

Browne finished as the runner up at the ITA New England singles championship, but received an invitation to represent the region at Nationals when champion Kristin Alotta of Williams opted not to attend. After reaching the semifinals of the event a year ago, Browne could very well be on a quarterfinal collision course with the tournament's top seed, Lorne McManigle of Emory. McManigle won a third set tiebreak against Browne at the quarterfinals of the NCAA singles championships last May before going on to win a national title.

The Daily spoke briefly with both Browne and McCooey on Tuesday evening about their outlook for Nationals:

Browne, on her and McCooey's chances of repeating in doubles:
"I think we’ve definitely learned each other’s games even better than when we went last year. We’ve played a lot of matches since then and gotten a lot more confident. But that’s not to say that we won’t have tough matches because all the teams we’re going to play are going to be really good. They all won their regions, so we’re going to have to play some really good tennis to win it. But I think we do have a good chance."

McCooey, on her comfort level with Browne:
"I think by the time the tournament came around last year, we were pretty comfortable playing together. But definitely since then, we’ve played a million matches together, so it probably only made us stronger and gave us more confidence. We’ve just gotten to know where we’re going to be on the court and gotten used to each other’s playing style."

McCooey, on the pressure of being the defending doubles champion and No. 2 seed:
"I guess you could say there’s a little more pressure on us this year just because we proved ourselves last year. But at the same time, I don’t think we’re really focusing on the draw. I haven’t actually looked at the draw, so I don’t even know who the other teams are, but I know that they all going to be strong and tough competitors. It’s more just a matter of who goes out there and plays with confidence no matter what seed they are."

Browne, on a potential second-round singles rematch against defending NCAA champion Lorne McManigle:
"I have a tough first-round match first [against Carleton sophomore Kathryn Schmidt.] I’ve never played her before, but she’s clearly good, and I know she finished in the top-20 last year. If I do get through that, I would most likely be playing Lorne, who I lost to 7-6 in the third [set] in [the quarterfinals of] Nationals last year. She is a really good player, but we had a good match, and I’m really excited to try to get some revenge."

Browne, on a grueling singles and doubles schedule:
"It’s always really hard to be playing both singles and doubles. But at this tournament, there’s only one singles and one doubles match each day, for the most part. It’s still going to be a lot of tennis, and it’s going to be hot there, but it’s going to be a lot easier than some of the other tournaments I’ve played. Granted, I still have to be in really good shape to be able to do all of it, but I definitely think it’ll be manageable."

McCooey, on showcasing the Tufts women's tennis program on the national stage:
"It’s a lot of fun. I remember when I was at the tournament last year watching [one of] Julia’s singles [matches,] I ended up talking to a coach from another school who was asking, ‘Tufts, where is that?’ He had never even heard of Tufts, and he was really impressed with how well we were going in the tournament. It was really cool to see that we were helping get the word out for Tufts and for Tufts tennis."

Click here for the complete singles draw.
Click here for the complete doubles draw.