In the final weekend of regular season play, the men's squash team came away with both an 8-1 win and 8-1 loss to keep its record at an even 8-8.
On Saturday, the Jumbos defeated Colby in a home match played at MIT in a win that marked the final home contest for Tufts, as well as the team's last match before Nine-Man Nationals begin this weekend.
"Winning the last match of the season is a big confidence boost going into Nationals," senior tri-captain Kris Leetavorn said.
Despite the lopsided match score, the Jumbos did not appear to have played their best squash. The team was coming off of a resounding loss in Maine against Bates on Friday, and some players felt as though they had flat feet when they first stepped on the court on Saturday.
"Everyone played well, but Colby came out a lot stronger than a lot of guys had expected," Leetavorn said. "We had some trouble closing out matches, but in the end everyone came through. Even though we won, it should have been a lot easier."
Freshman Alex Gross struggled to get going playing in the two spot for Tufts, but managed a comeback victory in five games, 5-9, 8-10, 9-5, 9-6, 9-4.
"I came out flat and lost my first two but came back and won the next three," Gross said. "It was not my best match but I was able to pull it out. In the last three games I made fewer mistakes and hit the ball straighter. Every shot had a purpose."
The match evened the Jumbos' record at .500 on the year, one day after they picked up their eighth loss on Friday against the Bobcats.
"It was a three hour drive, so when we got up there I guess we were on the tired side," Leetavorn said. "Bates just came out strong; it was their last match of the season and they had home court advantage. Even though we played well, they beat us pretty badly."
The lone win for the Jumbos came from the eight spot on the ladder, where sophomore Zach Bradley emerged with a brilliantly-fought five-game victory, upping his personal winning streak to 10 straight matches.
Bradley fell in the first two games by margins of 6-9 and 4-9, before coming back to win the next three in dominant fashion, surrendering only nine total points in the last three games. His tireless effort helped him pull out a 6-9, 4-9, 9-3, 9-4, 9-2.
"He has been playing amazingly well against all opponents," Gross said. "He ran [Bates junior Beacon Chapin] into the ground. He wore him out and by the fifth game it was all Zach."
Bradley has won when very few others on the team were even able to match up with their opponents. He had the lone win against Bates, contributed one of only two Tufts wins against Williams and produced one of Tufts' four points in a pair of 5-4 losses to Amherst and Brown, respectively.
"He is probably the most mentally tough guy on the team," Leetavorn said. "He just won't break down. He runs to every ball, and it's physically impossible to break him down."
With the recent losses to Brown and Bates, Tufts is likely to drop from their current CSA ranking of No. 16 to at least No. 17 in the country. This will put them in the third division of Nationals, as each division is comprised of eight teams.
Going into the end-of-season challenges ahead, the team feels confident but also admits it has issues to work out in the coming matches. One such issue is mental toughness and the ability to pull out tight matches. Tufts has been on the losing end of all three 5-4 results this season and will need to find a way to get that fifth point if it is going to win the division.
"I think it all has to do with mental stuff now," Leetavorn said. "We have to have the mindset that we are going to close out this match and get the win. Against Amherst and Brown, we were up and had match points. We know it's been a problem closing out these matches. When we have two or three match points we say here we are again and then suddenly they keep fighting back and we just lose it."
"We have to have a short memory and not remember losing but just what worked and what didn't work," Gross added. "We will be playing all good teams so we need to keep our heads to pull off those tough wins."
