The women's squash team came out flat against at this weekend's NESCAC Tournament, going 1-3 and finishing eighth out of 11 teams despite entering the weekend as the sixth seed.
After downing No. 11 Conn. College Friday to reach the quarterfinals, the Jumbos lost their next three matches. The first, an 8-1 loss to No. 3 Bates, eliminated them from the main draw, and consolation-round losses to No. 7 Bowdoin and No. 8 Amherst, both of which the Jumbos had beaten in regular-season play, dropped them to their final eighth-place finish.
Trinity, the top seed and heavy favorite, came away with its second straight title on its home turf. The Bantams, ranked No. 5 in the nation, won all three of their matches 9-0 and took 25 of those 27 individual wins in straight games.
"I would like to see a team really challenge Trinity for the spot," junior Jessica Herrmann said. "I don't think it matters too much as to who it is, but it would be exciting to see a team really fight Trinity for the position as NESCAC champions."
Rounding out the top three were No. 2 Williams and No. 3 Bates, giving a certain air of predictability to the tournament's results.
On Sunday, Amherst reversed its Dec. 6 5-4 loss to the Jumbos, winning by the same margin in the consolation round. Tufts got wins from No. 4 sophomore Laura Curren (9-4, 9-5, 9-7), No. 5 freshman Valerie Koo (9-0, 9-5, 9-5), No. 7 senior co-captain Micela Leis (9-0, 9-6, 9-2) and No. 8 freshman Margaret Fisher (9-5, 9-1, 9-6).
Despite the addition of Curren and junior Simone Grant, both of whom missed the teams' regular-season match, the Jumbos were unable to come out on top.
"I thought we would have done much better," coach Doug Eng said. "We were on a neutral court, we beat them before and we have two more players than last time we played them. You have to win at the bottom; we just didn't have enough and they had too much firepower at the bottom."
Sophomore Stef Marx's five-game loss was the missing piece. Marx succumbed to Amherst's Libby Martin 10-8, 1-9, 4-9, 9-6, 9-4 despite a well-played match.
"Stef's match against Amherst was incredible," Herrmann said. "She took [Martin] to five games, after losing to her in three games last time they played, and she played hard all the way through."
Tufts suffered another upset loss the night before to Bowdoin, this one by a blowout margin of 8-1. The Jumbos had beaten the Polar Bears in December in one of their biggest wins in recent years. But they were unable to repeat, likely due to the fact that Bowdoin returned three of its players from a fall semester abroad. Grant was the only Jumbo to win.
The loss to the Polar Bears was the Jumbos' second 8-1 defeat of the day. The first, at the hands of No. 3 Bates that morning, sent Tufts into consolation matches against Bowdoin and Amherst. A win would have been a tall order, even for the upset-minded Jumbos, and Bates' win helped maintain the order of the league's top three teams.
"It's incredibly stable," Eng said of the NESCAC rankings. "Its stability is almost like academia in that there is such a slow change ... in rankings through the years."
Because of the hierarchy of the league's top teams, the Bates loss was not as heart-wrenching as two that followed it, and the Jumbos were able to see highlights on the court.
Senior co-captain Rebecca Rice took the Jumbos' lone win, a four-game (6-9, 9-5, 9-7, 9-7) victory over Bates sophomore Hannah Laverty.
"Each shot [Rice] hit had a purpose, and she did not give up on any points," Grant said. "She played aggressively and over-powered [Laverty]."
"Rebecca had two huge wins this weekend, against both Conn. College and Bates," Herrmann added. "It was great to watch her play so well. It was clear she really wanted to win both matches and pushed herself as hard as she could to get them."
Rice's effort may have been most contagious in the Jumbos' first match against Conn. College, a 7-2 win. Rice battled to a five-game win (9-3, 7-9, 5-9, 9-1, 9-6), matching straight-game wins for the Jumbos' No. 4 through No. 9 players.
As the Jumbos put this weekend of mostly lows behind them, they must now refocus on a strong finish in the national rankings, which will determine their position in the Howe Cup, the season's crowning tournament. Tufts, ranked No. 13 in the latest poll, takes the court tomorrow against Brown, followed by a rematch with Bates and a date with Colby this weekend.
"This NESCAC Tournament hurts us, but we're not out of the picture yet," Eng said. "We have to hope for some mishaps on the other end, namely with Amherst. There are three things we can do right now: stay healthy, play hard and commit to train hard. Then you put yourself in a position for success."
