The men's tennis team finished off its regular season on Wednesday with a heartbreaking loss to one of its formidable NESCAC opponents.
The team's co-captain, Adam Scott called his squad, "the best team I've been on in my four years here." But Tufts too often fell victim to misfortune and a hesitancy to capitalize on its challenger's mistakes, which resulted in a season that did not reflect the team's full potential.
In all fairness, the Jumbos' problems have often not been any fault of their own: every member of the team has had to fight a nagging injury for a prolonged period of time. But the most recent loss to Bates College is just one of the matches that Tufts thought it could have, or should have, won.
The Bates match was not an expected victory for the Jumbos. Bates was ranked one place ahead of Tufts in the ITA rankings at the end of last season and ranked fifth in the East by the ITA on April 12th. Nevertheless, Tufts had more than its fare share of chances.
In the doubles matches, which were played first, the Jumbos dropped two out of the three match-ups and lost the point awarded to the team that wins two of its doubles matches.
Then, in singles, Tufts' number one player, sophomore David Ruttenberg, was able to edge out a first set tiebreak, which broke Bates' Alex Macdonald's spirits and allowed Ruttenberg an easy 6-0 second set win.
The second match to finish was freshman Jon Bram's contest with Bates' Ben Lamanna. Bram was finished off in straight sets (6-3, 6-4).
Adam Scott, Tufts' second ranked player, took the first set off Greg Norton but let down a little at the start of the second set to allow his opponent back into the match. Scott lost the third set 6-3.
As a senior, this was Scott's last home match of his career and it was filled with extra emotion. Scott has had to shoulder the burden of teammate David Ruttenberg's injuries for most of the season, and playing in the number one spot, he was never able to find a winning rhythm.
"Adam's been knocking at the door all season, but he just can't seem to turn it around," Watson said.
Sophomores Danny Lang and Brian Brendell, playing in the fourth and sixth spots respectively, both won big matches for Tufts. Brendell out-dueled Bates' Brett Carty 6-2 in the third set, while Lang cruised to a 6-4, 6-4 victory.
Brendell was previously thought to be lost for the season with an ankle injury, but remarkably, he is healthy again and his ankle did not seem to cause problems on Wednesday.
So, with the team match knotted up at three a piece, the deciding point was to be decided by co-captain Mark Fitzgerald's match with Milko Todorov.
"Mark fought and scratched and clawed," Watson said, and though he managed to storm back from down 4-1 in the third set to earn a tie at five, he lost his serve, bringing the third set to 6-5. "Then a monumental game took place," Watson said.
Fitzgerald put his all into the game and dove for the ball a total of four times (winning three of those points) in a Boris Becker-like effort. The game had twelve deuces and Fitzgerald was able to fight off eight match points; his opponent fought off four game points before capitalizing on a match point, and with that, sealing the victory. "I called it the game of the decade," assistant coach Doug Eng said. "I've never seen anything like it."
"This match was an example of how much the team has fought all season," Watson said. "It was a real heartbreaker," he continued.
The loss to Bates will likely preclude the Jumbos from playing in the NCAA Regionals in May. They will still participate in the NESCAC tournament, however, which starts later today, and the team hopes to end its season on a high note.
