Looking to rebound after a tough 0-3 stretch of NESCAC play, the men's tennis team fought to a narrow 5-4 victory over non-conference opponent Vassar on Saturday, its closest and arguably most important win of the season thus far.
On the heels of a 7-2 loss to Bowdoin on April 6 that saw Tufts - now 5-5 in conference play and 7-5 overall - drop three of four three-set singles matches, the Jumbos stepped up their play on the Brewers' courts, notching wins in two of the four singles matches that extended into three sets. Coupled with straight-set wins in the two remaining singles matches and one doubles victory, the squad tallied the five necessary wins to take the match.
With the overall match score knotted at four, the outcome came down to the No. 3 singles slot, where Tufts sophomore Andrew Rosen battled to three sets with Brewer freshman Greg Katz. The outcome of the match on his shoulders, Rosen battled through an injury and delivered the deciding 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 win.
"My match was particularly difficult because I hurt my hamstring in the match," Rosen said. "I was thinking of stopping actually in the middle of the first set, but I kept playing and was fortunately able to pull out a very close match in the third set."
"The [overall] match all came down to Andrew," senior captain Will Fleder added. "He barely could walk, but he fought through and was able to win the match for us 5-4."
Prior to the start of the match, the team had to shuffle its lineup after sophomores Bryan Wilner and Jon Trott, who usually play No. 5 and 6 singles respectively, were prevented from competing due to ailments.
"We're really happy with the win considering we didn't have Jon and Bryan in our lineup," Fleder said. "Jon had shoulder issues, and Bryan had stomach flu, so we had our [No.] 7 [sophomore Dan Landers] and [No.] 8 [freshman Tom Wilmanski] playing five and six, and our No. 7 won at five, which was great. Tom didn't even know he was playing until the morning of, had a close match at No. 6 and lost."
This match also once again demonstrated the importance of doubles, as Fleder and freshman Paul Kohnstamm picked up the No. 2 doubles match to keep the overall score at a close 2-1 mark before the squad's dependable singles lineup took the court.
Vassar, ranked No. 10 in the Northeast by the ITA compared to Tufts' No. 9 seeding on the regional ladder, had served up an impressive 11-2 spring record coming into its match with the Jumbos. Securing the quality win over the Brewers will be a big confidence boost for Tufts heading into its final three matches of the season.
"I would characterize it as a really good win because they're a good team, and we've played close with good teams this year, but we haven't yet managed to beat them," Fleder said. "Up until [Saturday], we hadn't won a 5-4 match this season, and I think it was really good and it can be really helpful going forward."
"The team was very excited because we've had a lot of close matches this year," Rosen added. "We lost to Bowdoin 7-2, we had two other matches that we lost 5-4, so it was really great to pull out a close match."
With the NESCAC Championships looming in the next two weeks, Tufts takes on Springfield College Wednesday in its final home match of the season before hitting the road to play NESCAC rival Amherst on Sunday and powerhouse Williams on April 22. As of the latest ITA national rankings, released on April 1, the Lord Jeffs are ranked No. 13 and the Ephs are No. 4, while the Jumbos are unranked.
"We're not officially out of the hunt for play in the postseason, but if we're ever going to play in the postseason, we have to beat Amherst, and Amherst is a great team," Fleder said. "Their doubles is much stronger than a lot of the opponents we've played this year, but we're playing better doubles now. Their singles is very strong down the line, so it's definitely going to be an exciting and challenging match, but we need to win it."
