The women's tennis team knew what it was up against on Saturday, but that still didn't give it any advantage.
Squaring off against the Williams Ephs, the fourth-ranked team in the nation, the No. 15 Jumbos fell hard on Saturday. As one-sided as Thursday's 8-1 dual-match win over MIT was, Saturday's match was that bad, as Tufts found itself on the losing end of an 8-1 Ephs rout.
Although some contests were close, Tufts was unable to pull out a victory in any of its singles matches.
After a strong performance at MIT, sophomore Meghan McCooey had her work cut out for her against junior Cary Gibson, the No. 14 singles player in the country. McCooey dropped the first set and Gibson eked out the second to win in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5.
At No. 2 singles, senior Grace Cascarilla Berry also lost to a ranked Williams player. Facing sophomore Grace Baljon, ranked No. 38 in the country, Berry went down in straight sets 6-1, 6-2.
And in similar fashion, freshman Julia Browne lost a close match at No. 3 singles, dropping the first set in a tiebreaker and ultimately falling 7-6, 6-3 and 6-4.
"The match that stood out to me today was Julia's match," senior Megan Gentzler said. "It was inspiring to watch her patience on the court, really driving her opponent down and wanting every point. She made a great comeback in the third set from down 5-1, and it really only came down to a few points at the end."
The other singles matches of the day weren't as close. Sophomore Erica Miller dropped No. 4 singles to sophomore Ashley Parson in straight sets 6-2, 6-0. Senior Andrea Cenko lost at No. 5, as she fell in a tiebreaker to freshman Nicole Reich in the first set and was not able to come back, with a final score of 7-6, 6-0. Finally, sophomore Mari Homma was swept by senior Allison Rottkamp, 6-2 and 6-0. Overall, the Jumbos went 0-6 in singles play.
"We had a really tough match today," freshman Miranda Young said. "Williams is a great team. It was a hard match to lose because everyone really wanted the win."
The doubles matches, however, were a bright spot in an otherwise dire day. Freshmen Julia Browne and Miranda Young got in a huge hole down 2-5 to Rottkamp and Reich. Unlike in singles play, the duo fought back and eventually won the match 9-8.
"Julia and I had a great doubles match," Young said. "It felt really great to win that, because we were down 2-5."
The other doubles matches didn't go as well for the Jumbos, however. Senior Andrea Cenko and freshman Hayley Young lost to the two Williams stars, Gibson and Baljon, 8-1, while McCooey and Berry lost to Marchese and senior Anne Schneidman, 8-5.
"We had a tough one today," Gentzler said. "Williams is always the team to beat, and today they came out with just a little more confidence and played the wind smarter than we did. However, the match scores don't necessarily reflect the fact that skill-wise, Tufts is right up there; we just needed to believe in ourselves a little bit more and play smart tennis."
"Overall, I think the team was disappointed with the outcome today," she continued. "But it's this kind of match that moves us forward individually and as a team."
Although the Jumbos were unable to hold their own against the Ephs, the match was a benchmark for the level of play Tufts is striving for as it heads into October.
The team will try to turn things around against NYU Saturday before playing the penultimate tournament of the season at the ITA Small College Nationals from Oct. 11-14.
