After the men's tennis team pulled off a 5-4 upset last year over perennial heavyweight Trinity on the friendly indoor courts of the Gantcher Center, the Bantams returned the favor this season on their own indoor courts with a 7-0 sweep of the Jumbos on Tuesday, ending Tufts' four-game winning streak.
The Bantams, who have won five straight including a pair of NESCAC victories last weekend over Bowdoin and Colby, were solid from top to bottom of both the singles and doubles lineups. Because the Bantams had already hit the plateau of five matches to clinch the overall contest, two singles matches went unfinished. The loss dropped Tufts to 4-3 in the spring and 6-4 overall.
As is usually the case with matchups on indoor courts, which have a slower bounce than outdoor hard courts, the home team derives an advantage because such courts often vary from school to school.
"We did this two years ago the last time we played on those courts, and we lost all six matches," senior captain Will Fleder said. "And Bowdoin, who's really talented, came last week before us and lost 5-1 on those courts. [Trinity's] indoor courts are very tough, and they're very good at playing on those courts, just as we're very good at playing on our indoor courts."
"Trinity's last two matches were against Colby and Bowdoin, and they won both of those," coach Doug Eng added. "Trinity's playing very well; they are undefeated and they've played well even on the hard courts outside, as I noticed during their spring break trip. I think that compared to Colby or Bowdoin, we were more mentally prepared because we've played on this surface. We've seen it before, and I think the other teams haven't."
The Bantams' doubles rolled to kick off the match, surrendering only seven combined games in contests that went 8-3, 8-1 and 8-3 in the three doubles slots. Of the four completed singles matches, only freshman Tony Carucci's contest at No. 4 went to three sets, though Carucci ultimately lost in a third-set super-tiebreaker 6-1, 4-6 (10-7).
"I think everyone was trying to play on a slow court that bounces a little funny, so they took it that way," Eng said. "I think we approached it correctly. I think there's two ways of dealing with that surface. Either we just take the ball out of the air a lot in the doubles, but unfortunately we didn't do that; the other key was serve returns. If we could get those returns back we'd be okay, and the guys knew that.
"It was tricky doing both of them; we didn't quite get to either one," he continued. "But the guys were a little bit more aggressive in the doubles. We played with a little more movement than in some of the matches in the past, but the score didn't really reflect that."
Despite failing to pick up a single match, the Jumbos managed to derive some positive feedback from the loss.
"We were a little more aggressive in doubles, which Coach commented on, and if we continue to be that aggressive, we're going to be a lot more successful at doubles," Fleder said. "Everyone thinks they played all right; it's not like people got killed or thought that they didn't play well. It was a combination of their courts and their talent. It was a tough day, and we knew it would be tough, and there wasn't any sort of negative sentiment after the match. I think everyone is still pretty positive about the weekend we have coming up."
Tufts looks to regroup and rest up before a weekend of key NESCAC contests, starting with a Saturday road match against Bates before a home date with Bowdoin. The Bobcats boast a strong record of 6-2 in the spring and 7-2 overall, while Bowdoin is 4-6 in the spring and 5-6 overall. Those two play each other today at Bowdoin before dueling with the Jumbos this weekend.
"I think we could be a little better than Bates in the singles, and it will be very even with Bowdoin in the singles," Eng said. "So we've just got to go out there and play like we don't have anything to lose, play smart and make less errors."
Last season saw Tufts pick up a 6-3 win at home over Bates followed by a 5-4 loss at Bowdoin, though the season before that, the Jumbos downed Bowdoin and fell to Bates, offering a good indication that this weekend's matches will be very competitive.
"Every year it's different, especially with Bates and Bowdoin," Fleder said. "Trinity, we had a win over last year, but historically we haven't done as well against them. But Bates and Bowdoin have always been close matches, and our outcomes in those matches have been tied to how successful our season is.
"I think everyone is going in with the mentality that it's going to be a tough match. Nothing is going to be handed to us - we're going to have to fight. We're going to have to get ourselves in position to win the match, which I think is the best we can do, and then if we get our chance to win, hopefully we can put it away."
