Men's tennis goes 2-1 over last three matches

The men's tennis team saw a three match winning streak end when it fell to rival MIT 4-3 on Tuesday.

The top of MIT's lineup proved too powerful for the Jumbos as it won the first three singles matches over senior co-captain Dave Ruttenberg, sophomore Rifat Perahya, and junior Jon Bram. The losses were the first for any of the three this season.

"MIT had some players who were very strong at the top of their lineup," senior co-captain Danny Lang said. "We played very well, but it didn't go our way."

Tufts players Lang, sophomore Adam Yates, and freshman Ben Alexander took the four, five, and six matches to split the singles competition with MIT.

However, MIT won two of three doubles matches to take the deciding point and the 4-3 win. While the top two doubles teams of Ruttenberg/Perahya and Lang/Yates lost, Tufts' third doubles team of Bram and Rubenstein was able to take a victory.

"It was basically two of the top ten nationally ranked teams going at it," coach Jim Watson said. "All the matches were very competitive but they just attacked it more than us. We can build off this."

The hard-fought match backed up Watson's preseason claim that MIT would be, "the team to beat."

Lang thought that MIT's home-court advantage led to the tightly contested match.

"Anytime you go on the road it is tough," he said. "Maybe things could have gone our way on our home courts."

The team hosted the Wesleyan Cardinals last Saturday afternoon in its second conference match of the season. The Jumbos won two of three doubles matches to win the doubles point, although both matches were tightly contested. The number one team of Ruttenberg and Perahya held on for a close 9-7 win and in the second doubles match Lang and Yates won 8-6.

The top of the Tufts singles lineup remained unbeaten in the Wesleyan match as Ruttenberg, Perahya, and Bram each won their matches in straight sets. Lang dropped the Jumbos first singles match of the season in a tight 6-4, 6-4 match against Wesleyan sophomore Wes Yeoman. Yates and Alexander held strong at the bottom of the lineup with two straight set victories.

In action last Friday, March 28, the Jumbos squared off against the Connecticut College Camels to open its NESCAC play. Coming off an ankle injury, which kept him from singles competition in the team's first match, Ruttenberg picked up his first solo victory of the season in straight sets. Ruttenberg also teamed up with Perahya, who shut out the Camels' number two player, for an 8-1 win in the number one doubles match.

Bram and Lang followed suit at the three and four spots, and Yates won an impressive match at number five 6-0, 6-0. Alexander rounded out the Tufts victory with a 6-0, 6-1 win at the bottom of the lineup. The teams of Lang/Yates and Bram/Rubenstein won convincing doubles victories: 8-3, 8-2 respectively.

Coming off their loss to MIT, the Jumbos venture into a tough weekend at home against Middlebury on Friday and on the road against defending national champion Williams on Saturday.

"Middlebury is every bit as strong as MIT," Watson said. "It is one of the teams to beat."

The coach was optimistic though, saying, "The pressure is definitely on them. We have beat them the last five or six years, and it's on our turf."

Lang also noted the importance of this weekend's matches.

"These are the two toughest matches we will have the rest of the season," Lang said. "We will find out where we stand."