After a promising trip to Phoenix, AZ during Spring Break, the men's tennis team topped local rival Brandeis, 4-1, in Tuesday's home opener at the Gantcher Center. Team members agree that the early success is a sign of things to come.
"This is the best team I've been on in my four years here," senior co-captain Adam Scott said.
Scott, the team's lone senior, is joined on the talent-laden squad by one of the nation's best players in sophomore David Ruttenberg. Ruttenberg finished his freshman season 26th in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's national rankings, and is only expected to improve with more collegiate experience.
Surprisingly, Ruttenberg and Scott lost their doubles match against Brandeis (8-3) on Tuesday.
"David's been sick all week," Scott said. "With him healthy, we wouldn't lose that match."
After Tufts' second team of freshman John Bram and junior co-captain Mark Fitzgerald disposed of its opponents easily, the third doubles match took on added importance - whichever team wins two of the three doubles matches receives the lone doubles point.
With their matches decided, then, the members of Tufts' first two teams gravitated toward the match between Tufts sophomores Danny Lang and Brian Brendell and Brandeis' Gary Falkowitz and Tasos Logothetis.
That match went to a tiebreaker, in which Tufts took advantage of its opponents' mistakes and won 7-1.
"Luckily Brandeis got tighter than us," Watson half-jokingly said.
Tufts was up 1-0 going into the singles matches. Scott mustered an extremely tough victory in the Jumbos' number two spot after having lost the first set in a tiebreaker, and was down five match points in the second set.
"I had kind of written it off as a loss," said Scott, describing his mindset late in the second set. "When you're down five match points you just try to fight them off, but you don't really think you have a shot."
Scott fought the points off and was able to rattle his opponent enough to win the second set, 7-5, capping off his comeback with a relatively easy third set win (6-3).
Simultaneously, Brendell, playing in the six spot, pulled off an equally impressive comeback. Brendell dropped the first set 2-6, before roaring back to take the second and third sets 6-1 and 6-0, respectively.
"I was most proud of Brian's win," Watson said.
While his teammates were able to pull off major comebacks, Lang, playing in the number four spot, couldn't overcome his early deficit and lost the match 7-5, 7-6.
Taking the court after Lang, Bram was able to clinch the victory for Tufts with an easy 6-3, 6-0 win over Brandeis' Yehn da Hansman.
Since the Jumbos clinched a win after just five matches, Ruttenberg and co-captain Mark Fitzgerald were able to rest themselves for Wednesday's important match against Amherst College.
Prior to the opener, the Jumbos won two of three matches during their trip to Arizona. The only Division III opponent Tufts faced was Minneapolis's Hamline University. The Pipers posed no real threat for the Jumbos, who easily disposed of them 6-1.
Tufts' next opponent, Glendale Community College, was ranked eighth by the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) at the end of last season.
"It's loaded with guys who could play [Division] I," head coach Jim Watson said about the Glendale squad.
With such an accumulation of talent, Glendale was able to edge out Tufts, 4-3. The two teams split the singles contests, but Tufts dropped all three doubles matches.
In their last match of the trip, the Jumbos outmatched Scottsdale Community College, not dropping a single set in the 7-0 win.
"We were optimistic after the trip," Watson said. "The guys were able to acclimate quickly to the 87-90 degree weather, and I think we are in good shape."
Despite being one of the youngest teams in the NESCAC, the Jumbos are excited about their early success and are in peak physical condition.
"All the returning players are playing much better, and we have a good freshman in John Bram. He's going to really help us with both singles and doubles," Scott, said.
Bram is recovering from a groin injury and is playing in the fifth spot, but once healthy, Watson expects him to move him up.
"Knowing how to attack and to be aggressive" is the key to success this season, according to Watson. He hopes that capitalizing on opponents' mistakes will allow the Jumbos to win the close matches that they have lost in the past.
The team's goal is the same as in every season: to qualify for the NCAA tournament and take it from there. Tufts has not been able to make the tournament during the past three years, but Watson attributes this to "shortchanging ourselves" through injury and not playing to potential.
Considering the Jumbos' auspicious beginning to 2001, the coach has every right to believe things will be different this season.
