Sophomore Jake Gross headed to Amherst on Saturday as the first male squash player to represent Tufts in the Potter A Division in at least 10 years.
But Gross' inexperience at the top level made Saturday's trip a quick one. Gross and fellow sophomore Rebecca Rice both fell in the first round in their respective men's and women's brackets at the College Squash Association (CSA) Individual Championships. The meet was the final squash competition for both squads this season.
Gross was seeded No. 24 in his bracket and competed against No. 9 Jacques Swanepoel, a junior from Trinity College. Gross fell in straight games (9-2, 9-2, 9-7). Swanepoel would go on to lose in four sets in the quarterfinal match.
"Going into the weekend, I had mixed feelings," Gross said. "I had a pretty successful season so I qualified for the Potter (A) Division playing the top players in the country. I knew my chances in the main draw were pretty much zero and I had to hope for a decent run in the consolation bracket."
On the women's side, Rice was seeded No. 28 in the Holleran B Division. She went up against No. 5 seed Lauralynn Drury, a sophomore from the University of Pennsylvania. Like Gross, Rice also fell in consecutive games, 9-2, 9-2, 10-8. Drury was later swept in the quarterfinals.
Both Gross and Rice led their respective Tufts squads as the No. 1 ranked players throughout the season, but they were out of their league in their main bracket matches. Both were beaten handily in the first two sets before competing closely, but ultimately losing the last game.
"My match against [Swanepoel] was actually pretty decent," Gross said. "I made way too many errors in the first two sets, giving him easy wins, but in the third I really started to play my top squash and even went up in the game 7-4. We were both battling pretty hard. He ended up coming back to secure a straight set win over me, but I was pleased with my performance in the last set."
Rice faced off against one of the best players in the nation, and she got off to a slow start, dropping the first two sets.
"I was pretty intimidated being on the court with [Drury], and I was nervous and was not playing very smart," Rice said. "[Coach O'Doherty] counseled me though. It made a huge difference and [Drury] started to make errors. Orla gave me some great advice going into each game. In the end, I put up a good fight."
As a result of their losses, both Jumbos went onto the CSA consolation draw, where the competition proved just as stiff as it was in their first round matches. After pulling out wins in the first game, both fell in four games.
Gross fell in the first consolation round to Franklin & Marshall freshman Rushabh Vora, 6-9, 9-3, 9-0, 9-6. Rice suffered a similar fate at the hands of Williams freshman Arianna Kourides, 0-9, 9-6, 9-4, 9-2. With the losses, both Gross and Rice were knocked out of the tournament, ending the Tufts squash season.
"The first game, I was really strong and aggressive, and I was really fighting for it," Rice said. "We had pretty close games straight through. [Kourides] put a lot of pressure on in the third game. I wasn't playing very well and she played really well. I played much better against Drury than I did against Kourides."
Approaching the CSAs, both players knew the opposition would pose a formidable challenge.
Gross found out last Thursday night that he would be up against Swanepoel, a two-time All-American. His previous experience against Trinity players prepared Gross for what occurred at CSAs.
"Our team had just played [Trinity], the eight-time defending national champions, [in the regular season] and I played their new Swedish freshman Gustav Detter, and he basically destroyed me," Gross said.
Rice also had an idea of the caliber of competition she would face.
"I knew that I didn't have a very good chance of making it through the first round," Rice said. "I knew that [Drury] was a really good, solid player so I had to go in hoping for the best."
This year's performance at CSAs proved similar to recent years' showings for Tufts squash. Last year, Rice and junior co-captain Julia Avrutin attended the event, but were both knocked out in the first round.
