The women's tennis team showed no signs of weakness in the past week, defeating all three of its opponents in dominating fashion. The Jumbos defeated UConn 6-3 last Monday, Trinity 8-1 last Saturday, and Wesleyan 9-0 last Thursday.
Tufts started its match on Monday at a disadvantage since the number one singles player, sophomore Katie Nordstrom, was out sick and the number two singles player, junior Erika Lee had academic obligations. This pair usually comprises the Jumbos' number one doubles team as well. Without these two key players, though, the Jumbos were able to step up and pull out the win against a Division I UConn team.
"This was a real big win for us," junior Heather Rich said. "Everybody stepped up and played well. We didn't want to lose to them because we haven't lost to them in a while. This match shows the depth that we have on this team."
The beginning of the match did not look good as the doubles team of freshman Barclay Gang and sophomore Emily Warshauer was defeated by Trinell Russell and Colleen Connors 8-4. However, the next two doubles teams picked up the slack by winning both of their matches convincingly. Sophomore Iffy Saeed and Rich dominated Ann Dewberry and Christine Vorvis 8-1, and sophomore Rachel Hammerman and senior Jen Lai out-played Katie Olsen and Laurel Lebby 8-3.
In the singles portion of the match, Gang faced her toughest competition of the year, playing first singles for the first time this season. Russell defeated Gang in straight sets 6-1, 6-3. The depth of the Jumbos became apparent when sophomore Iffy Saeed convincingly won her match over Connors. Saeed was put into in the second singles spot moving her up two spots from her usual fourth singles spot, and she pulled out a 6-2, 6-0 win. Warshauer put up a fight, but unfortunately relinquished the first two sets to Ann Dewberry 6-4, 6-3 in the third singles spots.
The final three singles matches went very well for the Jumbos and allowed them to take the match. In the fourth singles spot Hammerman beat Vorvis 6-0, 7-6. Lai, who was playing in the last fall home match of her Tufts career, dominated Mel Polanco 6-0, 6-3. Finally, Courtney Adair, who has not played in a match yet this year, was victorious in the sixth singles spot 7-5, 6-1 over Olsen.
The Jumbos put up another win last Saturday against a tough Trinity College team. Although Tufts won the match 8-1, it was not quite the lopsided performance that the score indicated. Three of the six singles matches went to three sets.
The Jumbos have struggled in doubles this year but showed no signs of it in this match. Nordstrom and Lee beat Courtney Sargeant and Becky Mate 8-5 in the first doubles spot. Gang and Warshauer were challenged but came up with the victory over Olga Bogatyrenko and Mimi Krueger 8-6 in the second doubles spot. Finally, Saeed and Rich took their doubles match 8-3 over Diana Goldman and Karen Huebner.
The only blemish on the scoreboard for the Jumbos in this match came at the first singles spot, in which Nordstrom lost the first set 7-6, and was then forced to retire from the match because of sickness. Lee was victorious over Sargeant with a score of 7-6, 6-2 in the second doubles spot. Gang was also able to defeat Mate in straight sets 6-2, 7-6 in her third singles match.
After Gang's match, the Jumbos began to be challenged. Saeed won her first set 6-4 over Bogatyrenko, only to lose a close second set, 6-5. Fortunately, she was able to rebound and took the third set 6-2 to win her fourth singles match. Warshauer was given a scare by Huebner in the first set of her fifth singles match, which she lost 6-3. She woke up, though, and won her last two sets 6-4, 6-3. Rich also relinquished her first set to Krueger 7-5 but was able to come back in the final two frames, winning 6-3, 6-3.
If the Jumbos were challenged on Saturday by Trinity, they hardly broke a sweat last Thursday against Wesleyan. Tufts shut out Wesleyan 9-0 and not one Jumbo gave up a set. In the first doubles match, Nordstrom and Lee beat Rachel Sigman and Dina Guth 8-5. Gang and Warshauer defeated Nina Zeitlin and Tarsah Dale 8-6 in their second doubles match. Rich and junior Daniella Fontecilla completed the sweep of doubles by winning their match over Allison Rovner and Kelly Schunk to the tune of 8-5.
Tufts won their singles matches in similar dominating fashion. Nordstrom won her first singles match 6-4, 6-0 over Zeitlin. In second singles Lee took her match 6-0, 6-4 from Rovner. Gang won the third singles match convincingly by a score of 6-1, 6-1 over Dale. Saeed did her job in the fourth singles spot, beating Schunk 6-2, 6-2. Warshauer won the closest match all day by defeating Guth 6-2, 7-6. Finally, Hammerman completed the sweep with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Sigman.
The Trinity match showed the improvement that the Jumbos are making on their doubles play. "I think we have improved doubles," Rich said. "We are still switching around the third doubles spot a lot but each match we get better."
The improved doubles play combined with Tufts' already strong singles play will help the Jumbos as they enter the New England Championships this weekend. Last year, Tufts took fourth in this tournament that brings together all the small colleges in New England. The Jumbos hope to better that mark this year.
"We are feeling pretty confident right now because we are playing well," Rich said. "We want to do better than our fourth place finish last year. It is going to be tough because Williams and Amherst will be there and they are good teams, but I think that we are definitely in the running."
The Championships will be played this Friday through Sunday and will be a good chance for Tufts to see where it stands in New England. This will give the team a better idea about its chances in the NCAA tournament that will take place in the spring.
