Last week's loss to non-conference Wellesley was a wake- up call for the women's tennis team. It brought to the Jumbos' attention a need to end the fall dual-match season on a positive note with the New England Championship looming on the horizon. The team was up to the task on Saturday at Trinity when it triumphed over the Bantams, 8-1.
Tufts' only loss of the day came when senior tri-captain Jen Lejb retired with a 4-3 lead in the first set. Lejb, who has a chronic leg condition, stopped playing when Tufts had the match in hand to ensure that she will be in the best possible condition for this weekend's New England Championships.
In the win, sophomore Kylyn Deary posted a decisive win over Trinity freshman Brenna Driscoll at third singles, 6-2, 6-0. The win snapped a rough stretch for Deary and improved her season record to 6-4.
"It's good for [Deary] to get back into her rhythm," coach Doug Eng said. "She's working on getting back into a groove. It's really good to do that before New Englands."
At the top of the lineup, sophomore Jen Luten grabbed a win over Bantam senior co-captain Diana Dreyfus 6-1, 6-4. Further down the roster, freshman Lani Ackerman posted the most emphatic result of the afternoon with a 6-0, 6-0 shutout of Trinity sophomore Julia Hoffman at fifth singles.
Senior tri-captain Trina Spear and classmate Ashley Weisman rounded out the singles lineup with straight-set victories of their own, at fourth and sixth singles, respectively. Spear topped Bantam junior Melissa White (6-3, 6-0), while Weisman defeated Trinity sophomore Madison Ward (6-1, 6-3).
The Jumbos (6-2, 4-1 NESCAC) were equally sharp in the doubles matches on Saturday. Luten and Deary led the way atop the lineup with an 8-2 win over Dreyfus and senior co-captain Britt Olwine. Lejb and senior tri-captain Neda Pisheva also did their job with a second doubles win over the Bantam number two tandem of Discoll and White, by a score of 8-5.
Spear and Weisman rounded out the doubles success with an 8-3 win over Hoffman and Ward of Trinity in the third position.
The win followed consecutive losses to Middlebury and Wellesley, and although Trinity is among the weaker teams the NESCAC has to offer, getting the victory was important to the team's psyche.
"We just want to make sure we're in a good groove," Eng explained. "Bad grooves in tennis are tough. They're like baseball slumps, if you want to look at it like that."
With the win over Trinity, the Jumbos close out the fall season's dual match action, with only this weekend's New England Championships hosted by Amherst College remaining on the schedule. Last year, the team finished third among a field of 24 schools, with only NESCAC rivals Williams and Amherst having better performances. Many current players contributed to last year's result.
Luten and Lejb, as they have thus far in 2004, led the way for the Jumbos at New Englands last year. The two of them teamed together in the first doubles flight and advanced to the semifinals. Separately, Lejb made it to the quarterfinals in the first singles flight, while Luten drove all the way to the semifinals in the third singles flight.
Deary also had plenty of success as a freshman in New Englands. Playing in the sixth singles flight, she advanced to the semifinals. Pisheva, teaming with 2004 graduate Barclay Gang, also had a strong run in last year's tournament, making it to the semifinals of the second doubles flight, where she will team with Lejb this season.
This weekend's tournament consists of six flights of singles competition and three flights of doubles competition. Tufts will enter one player or team in each flight in order to accumulate points for the total team result. It is important that nobody loses early so the team continues to earn points. The quantity of players makes more of a difference in this style of play than having just one or two individuals going deep in their respective flights.
The team is channeling much of its focus this week on the available sixth singles flight.
"As much as we want to work on the doubles, we need to make sure the singles is there," Eng said. "Our strength is singles, but we play very good doubles also."
With the fall dual match season behind it, the team can reflect on those matches as a stepping stone toward success this weekend and in the spring. While picking up two losses might come as a surprise to some, the team does not strictly emphasize match results in the fall, and is quick to admit the improvements other programs have made.
"I think the most improved teams are Middlebury and Wellesley," Eng said.
Looking ahead to this weekend and the offseason, Eng is content with where his team stands thus far.
"We're kind of where we expect to be, I think," the coach said. "We just have to work a little harder. There's a lot of parity [among the top teams] right now."
