Fresh off last Wednesday's 9-0 thrashing of the Smith College Pioneers, the Women's tennis team handily defeated the Colby White Mules 7-2 on Saturday in Waterville, Maine, advancing the Jumbos' record to
2-0.
"Colby was a great match to have at the beginning of the season," Coach Kate Bayard said. "It shows a strong start going into the season, and I feel great about it."
Colby provided the Tufts squad with its first taste of NESCAC competition as it picked up the victory at Colby's indoor tennis courts. Senior co-captains Becky Bram and Lisa Miller led by example at the top of the singles lineup, winning in straight sets against their White Mule opponents 6-1, 6-4 and 6-0, 6-2, respectively.
"I think everyone played well and stepped up to the plate for the first real challenge of the season," Miller said. "It was a tough adjustment to play indoors with poor lighting, but I played confidently and I thought that I played smart."
Sophomores Lani Ackerman and Megan Gentzler also cruised to singles victories for the Jumbos at the fourth and fifth spots, beating their challengers 6-0, 6-2 and 6-3, 6-2, respectively. Rounding out the bottom of the singles lineup, Senior Elyse Piker triumphed 6-0, 6-2.
"Colby has always been good," Bram said. "It just showed that we were capable of beating a good team."
"I was extremely pleased with how the team played as a whole performance-wise and how they supported each other," Bayard added.
Freshman Jessica Knez had the only loss in the Jumbos' singles lineup, falling to Colby senior Anna Erdheim 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 at No. 3. She redeemed herself with a victory at the No. 2 doubles slot though, winning 8-4 alongside fellow freshman Mari Homma.
"Jessica had a tough one in her singles match; it really could have gone either way," Bayard said.
Strong performances by the underclassmen accounted for four of the seven matches won by the team.
"The underclassmen have been playing with a lot of confidence," Bayard said. "[The younger players] are mentally tough," Bram said. "They're capable of winning and they've got great attitudes, and I'm expecting a lot out of them this season."
Bram and Miller teamed up for doubles but fell 8-5 to senior Ginny Raho and junior Tracy Nale. But the sophomore duo of Gentzler and Andrea Cenko came out on top in their doubles match, winning 8-2.
"I think everyone is going out there and playing seriously and everybody played well individually and as a team," Miller said.
Beating Colby enabled Bayard to pick up her second victory as the new Women's tennis coach.
"Kate is definitely doing an amazing job," Bram said. "She's an amazing player who also knows how to coach. She's done a great job mentally and physically preparing us for the matches."
For her part, Bayard has been pleased so far by the way the team approaches ever varying levels of competition with the same
intensity.
"I was impressed with the way everyone on the team took the Smith match very seriously," she said. "Taking every opponent seriously and going into every match with the mentality that every point is important."
This weekend, the squad will travel to Bowdoin College for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) tournament. No current team member has played in any ITA tourneys because of scheduling conflicts during the past several years. The format of the competition puts an emphasis on individual players rather than teams as a whole.
"[The ITA tournament] will be a great opportunity to see a variety of [our team members] compete against a lot of different people," Bayard said. "I think that potentially the top of our team, Becky and Lisa, could do some damage there."
Since the Jumbos only had five practices before their first match against Smith, there was limited time to create the lineup. The individualized aspect of the ITA will help Bayard determine her final starting squad.
"The first couple practices have been a lot of matches within the team to get ready for the dual matches," she said. "I certainly want to continue to experiment with the lineup."
