Dave Beyel, men's basketball
Coming into Wednesday night's contest against the Keene State Owls, freshman forward Dave Beyel was five games into his collegiate basketball career, and had scored a total of nine points.
Three days later, Beyel had emerged as a rising star on the Jumbo bench, and the pride of the team's freshman class.
In Wednesday's triple-overtime thriller against the Owls, in which four Tufts starters had fouled out by the end of the first OT, Beyel stepped up and played all 15 minutes in overtime, bolstering a Jumbo lineup that was without its two starting forwards, junior Jake Weitzen and senior tri-captain Brian Kumf.
In a game that was full of star-studded performances - sophomore forward Jon Pierce ended the first overtime with a stunning buzzer-beating three, and senior tri-captain Dave Shepherd carried the team with his clutch shooting - it was Beyel who posted the game's only double-double. The freshman had a game-high 10 rebounds for the Jumbos, and he more than doubled his career scoring total, adding 11 points.
On Saturday, Beyel was a solid bench performer in the Jumbos' win over Clark University, scoring nine points despite spending just 14 minutes on the floor.
Stefanie Marx, women's squash
After starting the 2006-2007 season with four straight losses, three of them 9-0 sweeps, the womens' squash team is hitting its stride. The Jumbos have picked up back-to-back wins over higher-ranked squads in the past two weekends - a 5-4 win over William Smith on Dec. 2 and a 7-2 thumping of NESCAC rival Amherst on Thursday. The wins saw strong performances at both the top and the bottom of the lineup, characterizing the depth of this year's team.
And bridging the two halves of the roster at the No. 4 spot is freshman Stefanie Marx. After starting the season 0-4, Marx has gone 4-0 as the Jumbos have evened their record at .500. Her latest win was a five-game marathon match on Thursday against Amherst senior Sarah Harper. Marx rebounded from a 9-6 loss in the first game with a pair of 9-1, 9-2 wins. Harper bounced back with a vengenace in the fourth, tying the match at two games apiece with a 9-1 win. Marx came through with a 9-7 decision in the fifth game to close the match and give Tufts a 3-1 lead on the day.
The win bolostered a strong showing in the five-through-nine spots of the Tufts lineup, and guaranteed a Tufts-Amherst split in the top four matches.
