After a rough start, the men's tennis team finished up a triumvirate of matches nicely. The squad went 2-1 over the three-game stretch, defeating Colby and Babson, while falling to Bowdoin. The wins improved the team's record to an impressive 9-2 on the year.
The most consistent play throughout the three matches came from the top two seeds, number-one junior tri-captain Dave Ruttenberg and number-two freshman Rifat Perhayha. The tandem won all three of their doubles matches, and individually both players won against their opponents from Colby, Bowdoin and Babson.
While the team's one- and two-spot players were strong, the depth of the Bowdoin squad proved to be too much to overcome, as the Jumbos fell 5-2 last Friday.
"Bowdoin is one of the deepest Division III teams," Ruttenberg said. "They are a deep team so we are very even."
Despite Bowdoin's depth, head coach Jim Watson felt that the matches could have gone either way.
"They had a little more fire power than we did," Watson said. "But we could have turned around some of those matches."
While Ruttenberg won in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, Perhayha had to battle in his match to a 7-6,3-6, 6-3 victory. Aside from the victories at the one- and two- spots and Ruttenberg and Perhayha's doubles victory, Tufts fell in all of its other matches, en route to the loss.
However, in a somewhat strange turn of events, Bowdoin turned around the next day and fell to a Middlebury team that the Jumbos defeated earlier in the season.
"It shows how competitive the conference is," Watson said.
The next two matches against Colby on Saturday and Babson on Tuesday more closely resembled the strong play that Tufts has displayed throughout the season.
"Colby is not a bad team," Watson said. "The guys, however, stepped up their games; we needed those wins. It's a great tribute to the team's resiliency to bounce back after a tough loss. It really shows energy and spirit to come back and raise the game again in less than 24 hours, it's hard to do."
Saturday's match against Colby marked the final home match of senior tri-captain Mark Fitzgerald's career.
"Mark has been a great contributor for four years," Watson said.
Fitzgerald fittingly dominated his opponent in the number-four spot, 6-0, 6-1.
With number-three player John Brahm out of the lineup for the day, the players usually occupying the 4-6 positions all had to move up a slot, and sophomore Sonny Kathpalia had to assume the six position. Despite the jostling around of the lineup, the Jumbos were still able to hand Colby a 5-2 defeat.
While Colby did pose somewhat of a challenge to the team, the same cannot be said for Babson, as the Jumbos blitzed the Beavers, 6-1.
"We are just stronger at every position," Ruttenberg said. "Babson is not on par with us at any spot."
Kathpalia, who played his first official match on Saturday, was able to grab his first victory of the year against the Beavers, handily defeating Babson's number six 6-1,6-3. Junior Danny Lang was also impressive, scoring a tough three set victory, 5-7,6-4,7-5 at the three spot.
The team next turns its attention to a solid Bates College team. The Jumbos will play at Bates on Wednesday April 24.
"We've got to beat Bates, and it will be a tough one," Watson said. The team must then quickly turn around and head to Amherst for the NESCAC tournament, which will begin Friday April 26.
"We will see what happens, its kind of a crap shoot," Watson said. "We should be seeded relatively high because our guys have done well at their respective positions."
