There was no time for tanning as the men's tennis team headed to Los Angeles for their spring training trip.
The Jumbos took on three tough teams over the break, a difficult schedule made even tougher by the fact that they only had one day to practice on outdoor courts. Thursday's 5-2 loss against Occidental University capped off the trip.
In singles, McCooey was the lone Jumbo to gain another point for Tufts as he won his match 6-0, 7-5. McCooey went untouchable in singles play throughout the tournament.
"Sean McCooey is our MVP so far," coach Doug Eng said. "He is playing well. But we have a team where any one of the guys can rise to the occasion and win a big match."
Although Occidental's singles dominance sealed the Tigers' victory, the Jumbos finally put their doubles skills together, something they had been unable to do over much of the trip. Senior tri-captain Jon Rubenstein and junior Sean McCooey picked up their second win of the trip at No. 2, winning 8-2, while sophomore Will Fleder and junior Matt Gallin picked up their first win as a duo at the third doubles position by winning in a tiebreaker, 7-4. The first team duo of senior tri-captain Paul Roberts and junior Corey Keller lost a tight battle, going down 7-2 in the tiebreaker.
The squad faced Point Loma Nazarene University on Tuesday. Taking advantage of the close level of play atop the Tufts ladder, Eng switched the top four in the singles lineup.
"Coach Eng's system gives us all a chance to play at the top spot," Rubenstein said. "This is the first year there has been no griping about the line-up. Guys are finally shutting up and playing the tennis needed to beat the big teams."
All three of Tufts' doubles teams were defeated to start off the match. As singles matches were facing off, the Jumbos looked overpowered down the six courts.
Keller, in the sixth spot, won his first set, but his Sea Lion opponent battled back to defeat him in a third-set tiebreaker. McCooey won in straight sets to gain the Jumbos' first point. Roberts also outlasted his opponent at the No. 4 spot, beating senior Sean Sand 10-6 in the third-set super tiebreaker.
But those efforts were not enough, as the Jumbos came up short and suffered their first loss of the season with a final score of 7-2, feeling the shortcomings of the doubles matches.
"We need to get our doubles better," Eng said. "It's still early in the season so when we play some of the teams later, I'm sure we will be fine. We all know the doubles point can be big."
The first match of the trip was against Chapman, ranked 25th nationally. After a long flight and little time to adjust to differences of outdoor courts, the Jumbos came back from a 3-1 deficit to upset the Panthers. The team lost the doubles point early on, although the pairing of Rubenstein and McCooey at No. 2 doubles pulled out a close 8-6 win. This duo proved reliable throughout the trip, going 2-1 through the week, and it is a bright spot in the Jumbos' doubles lineup.
"Sean and I are pretty dominant right now," Rubenstein said. "He sets up the point; I finish it. I think we're just hungry for some tougher competition."
The Jumbos had to fight for every point in the singles matches. The match looked bad for Tufts as both Roberts, at No. 1, and Rubenstein, at No. 3, fell. In between those two matches, McCooey, playing five, rolled over his opponent 6-1, 6-1. With the Jumbos were down 3-1, the pressure was on for their teammates to step up their games.
The Panthers only needed one more of the remaining three matches to walk off the court victorious. Keller notched a win for the Jumbos, making it 3-2 with a 6-4, 6-3 win. The last two matches were in a deadlock, as Fleder split his first two sets with Chapman junior Hunter Jack and senior tri-captain Ben Alexander faced a first-set tiebreaker.
As the Jumbos dug deeper, Fleder defeated Jack in the second set in a tiebreaker in which Jack defaulted due to code violations. Alexander showed his leadership, winning his first set 7-5 in the tiebreaker and then easily crushing his opponent in the second set 6-1, earning the fourth point to seal the win for Tufts.
"I thought we played great against Chapman," Alexander said. "I have never had a match rest on my shoulders throughout my college career, and it was certainly a moment worth waiting for."
The Jumbos face a tough Middlebury squad on the road on Friday. Tufts is currently 2-2 on the season, and will look to bump that mark above .500 against the Panthers.
