Following another narrow loss to a beatable opponent in Brandeis on March 14, the men's tennis team bounced back to post consecutive victories over MIT, Stevens Tech and NESCAC opponent Hamilton to advance its record to 3-2 in the spring, 5-2 overall.
Although the non-conference loss to the Brandeis Judges may have been relatively unimportant, Tufts' failure to pick up any of the three doubles matches proved eerily similar to the squad's loss six days earlier to Colby, when the Jumbos also surrendered all three doubles contests. Tufts fell to both the Mules and the Judges by close 5-4 margins in matches that favored the Jumbos on paper.
"We were a little stunned," coach Doug Eng said. "Neither [Colby nor Brandeis] was a good loss. We didn't have a full lineup against either of them, since not all of the guys were 100 percent."
Though unranked as of the March 19 ITA Collegiate Tennis team rankings for Div. III, Tufts entered the spring recess at No. 21 before falling to the two unranked programs.
The Jumbos quickly learned that the underdog mentality of unranked teams can prove deadly if these squads secure an early 3-0 lead in doubles.
"We're ranked and they're not, so that's what I'm stressing to the team," Eng said. "Because they're coming in very pumped up, we go into doubles and they jump to quick leads, and we're not able to catch up. That's what's happening."
"It was a typical thing because we lost all three doubles," senior captain Will Fleder added. "We can't afford to lose all three doubles if we want to win."
Despite the doubles sweep, Tufts managed to come within one point of swinging the match to 5-4 in its favor during Fleder's No. 1 singles match. After pushing Judges freshman Simon Miller to three sets, Fleder had several match points but was unable to convert them, losing 9-7 in a third-set tiebreaker, giving Brandeis its fifth match victory to seal the overall win.
"The problem was my match came down to the wire and I was playing a really good player," Fleder said. "I had my chances but unfortunately it didn't go the way I would have wanted it to. It was a pretty disappointing loss for us, but in the grand scheme of things that match isn't that important."
Still, the Jumbos managed to pull themselves out of the 0-2 spring season hole by pulling off three straight subsequent victories. Last Friday, Tufts took on the Hamilton Continentals in Miami as part of a week-long Florida training trip and swept the Continentals 9-0. That contest featured all 12 members of the roster seeing action, with straight-set victories from all six singles players.
Just two days earlier, Tufts pounded the Stevens Tech Ducks 8-1 in Orlando, with the sole loss coming at No. 1 singles when Fleder managed to break strings on four different rackets, requiring him to change to a different racket model altogether mid-match.
"I was really pleased with how everyone played their matches [on the Florida trip]," Fleder said. "Those matches are very easy for people to sit back on their heels, but we didn't; we played well. Those teams are significantly worse than us but still talented enough, so everybody went out and we won 17 of the 18 matches, so we're pretty pleased with that."
"We probably could have used slightly stiffer competition, but Stevens had a doubleheader the day before and they were missing a couple of players due to injury, so they weren't 100 percent, so that match went straightforward for us," Eng added. "The good news is that we've gotten a little bit more back on track and we're getting a better rhythm, and it was good team bonding too."
Before heading down to Florida, the Jumbos had to face off against local rival MIT and managed to soundly defeat the Engineers 6-3 on March 15. This contest marked the Jumbos' first doubles win of the spring season, an 8-1 victory from sophomore Daniel Landers and freshman Tom Wilmanski at No. 3.
"Take the MIT match and the Brandeis matches: two very comparable teams," Fleder said. "And we were able to take one of the doubles against MIT and we're not able to take one against Brandeis, and it totally changes the way the match went. We knew our singles were better against both teams, and once we won that doubles match, we were only down 2-1 so we used our singles and it wasn't a problem."
Since its two 5-4 losses to Brandeis and Colby, Tufts has shuffled its doubles teams around, searching for the optimal duos and seedings on the doubles ladder. The squad took advantage of the weaker opponents during spring break to sort that out, and the process will likely continue through tomorrow's home contest against the Conn. College Camels, traditionally a cupcake opponent in NESCAC men's tennis.
"We're definitely shuffling it around now because the teams we're playing are significantly weaker, so we're using this opportunity to get back on track and try out a couple of new things," Eng said. "Hopefully we'll be trying another lineup against Conn. College, and if that works then we're going to try and stick with it."
Even though the squad must first take care of business against the Camels tomorrow, it is still eyeing future conference contests that will all but define the regular season.
"The three most important matches of the season are coming up against Trinity, Bates and Bowdoin, so I think everyone is kind of building up for that," Fleder said. "Conn. College is obviously first on the horizon, so that's what we'll focus on right now, but I think everyone is getting really excited for what's going to happen in two weeks.
"Last year we won 7-2 [against Conn. College] when we didn't bring two of our starters, so this year I think the goal has to be obviously to win the match, but more so we want to play well because it's a great opportunity for us since we're home on the Tufts courts and we're comfortable with them," he continued. "It's a great way for us to get some momentum with these three wins before heading into those key three matches in the coming weeks."
