After four-year tenures for seniors Jake Gross of the men's squash team and Rebecca Rice of the women's squad, ones that saw them compete in over 140 combined matches at the top of their respective squash ladders, the two graduate today, leaving behind holes at the apexes of the lineups that they have occupied for several seasons.
Both players have put together impressive résumés during their time at Tufts. Gross arrived as a highly-touted freshman, and he immediately took his place as the No. 1 for the men's squash team, where he would remain throughout his Tufts career. Rice began play her freshman year competing at the No. 2 and No. 3 slots before claiming the top spot her sophomore year. After serving as captains for their respective squads during their senior years, Gross and Rice reflected on their roles as team leaders.
"Playing for this team the past four years has been a great part of my experience here at Tufts," Gross said. "Being a leader on the team has definitely had a lot to do with how the team viewed me, and fortunately they made me captain my last couple of years, which was a huge honor as well."
"Being at that position, the other girls on the team look up to you for a certain amount, and so I always wanted to give 100 percent whenever I was playing and set a good example for everyone on the team, no matter who I was playing," Rice said. "It doesn't matter if you're playing the No. 1 girl in college squash, you always go out and do your best because that's really all you can do."
Gross had a tremendous senior season, posting a 17-2 record to cap a 53-21 career record as a Jumbo, making him the all-time winningest player in the history of Tufts men's squash. He never finished a season with an individual losing record, and he made two trips to College Squash Association (CSA) Individual Championships - once this Feb. 29 as a senior and once two years ago as a sophomore. The tri-captain also captured a spot on the inaugural All-NESCAC team, and he graduates today ranked No. 32 in the nation.
"To be honest, at Tufts we don't see athletes like that except maybe every 10 years, in any sport," said Doug Eng, who served as the men's squash coach and the interim women's squash coach this season. "He's probably the best athlete in his sport [at Tufts]. We might have to wait 20 years to see another player like him."
As for Rice, ranked 109th nationally at the end of this season, the co-captain made appearances at CSA Individuals her freshman, sophomore and senior seasons. While her career record stands at 25-45, it is worth noting that Rice's true mettle shone through in her ability to consistently bounce back after tough losses to the nation's best college squash players.
"It's hard to stay positive after four years of that, playing people who are All-Americans or who are right on the border of being an All-American, and she faced them almost every match," said Kelsey Engman, who has finished her first year as the assistant coach for the women's squad, though she also competed against Rice in prior seasons playing at Bates College. "And her other matches were really close and sometimes they would go her way and sometimes they wouldn't, so while her record may not state it, she really was a team player, and she stepped up and pushed everyone down one spot on the ladder. She's amazingly positive."
Even though Gross thrived at the top spot while Rice had a more difficult road, both players' experiences attest to the importance of stepping into the role of the team's best competitor and going after every match.
"Playing No. 1 was a huge honor and responsibility," Gross said. "Coming here, at first I was a bit nervous playing at that top spot, but I developed skills that I wouldn't have otherwise ... [still], I wouldn't have had it any other way. Going out every other weekend and playing someone in a really good match just keeps your game high. It was awesome."
"I definitely took different approaches to it depending on what season it was because when I was younger, there was sometimes a lot of pressure and sometimes it would be kind of overwhelming to be playing the best girls," Rice said. "But then as I got older, I realized it was a really cool opportunity to know that I'd always be playing the best girls because when else would you have that chance to be playing the best of the best, so as I got older I found myself wanting to always rise to the challenge."
Statistics and win/loss records aside, the legacies of Gross and Rice as fixtures on the top of the squash ladders during their time here as Jumbos will endure as the teams move forward and cope with the losses of their teams' leaders.
"Working with Jake has been a great experience," Eng said. "He's a very talented player and he's the kind of player who gets everyone on the team playing at a higher level. It's very easy for a player at his level to get a little selfish, and Jake is definitely not."
"Becca is really driven; she's always been that way," Engman said. "She's always been very determined and she works really hard. She sets a really good example for the team and she just obviously wanted it so badly, and that's what allowed her to play at the top. I think that she was a really good leader. She took everything to heart and really cared about the team."
Next season will undoubtedly bring a period of transition for both teams as the selection of new No. 1 players takes place, but Gross and Rice both expect their successors to step up and excel.
"They definitely have a lot of leadership capabilities, and I have a lot of faith in this team and I think they're going to do just fine," Gross said. "Obviously it's a big change with us gone, but with new blood comes new changes, and they definitely have the skill and the heart to do really well next year, so I'm looking forward to following them."
