For the past three years the men's tennis team has taken the court against the Salve Regina Seahawks in the first dual match of the fall season, offering a preliminary assessment of the squad's play before heading to the more important spring portion of the season.
In 2006 and 2007, the Jumbos downed the Seahawks by the same 6-3 score; competition on Wednesday, however, netted an even better outcome as Tufts trounced Salve Regina 9-0 on the Seahawks' home court in Newport, R.I.
Fall victories are nothing new to the Jumbos, who are a perfect 5-0 in autumn dual matches since they were first added to the schedule in 2006. Tufts' other annual fall competitor has been the Babson Beavers, whom the Jumbos will host Wednesday. And while the results of the matches aren't exactly critical to the season as a whole, the experience the early fall contests provide for first-year team members is important.
"We have at least three freshmen who will start this year, so [playing in the fall] gives them an opportunity to get acclimated with playing college matches," junior Andrew Rosen said. "It really gives the team a sense of camaraderie; I think this year everyone's really come together even this early in the season."
The Jumbos got off to a hot start in doubles play, as junior Dan Landers and sophomore Paul Kohnstamm teamed up at the No. 1 slot to win 8-6, while sophomore Jake Fountain and freshman Sam Laber checked in at the second spot to down their Seahawk opponents 8-5. Junior Jon Trott and first-year Kai Victoria completed the 3-0 sweep at doubles, cruising 8-3 at the No. 3 doubles position.
With memories of their relatively poor doubles play last spring fresh on their minds, the Jumbos know that improvement as a team this season will require immediate attention to those first three doubles match-ups that precede the six singles contests in every match.
"I thought it was a really great beginning to the match," Rosen said. "We usually do pretty well against this team, but this was the first time I think we swept them 9-0 in the last three years. The most significant aspect was the doubles, and that the doubles won in pretty convincing fashion. Last season the doubles was really our Achilles' heel, but this year we have some new freshmen and we really mixed up the doubles lineup; we're hoping this time to really do well."
"I still think doubles is a weakness that we have to work on," Landers said. "I think that the reason we may have had an easier time at No. 1 doubles this time around is because Salve Regina lost a really good doubles team from last year."
In terms of addressing last season's weaker doubles play, the squad intends to maximize the time on court in the fall, including the ITA Regional Championships, which starts today and continues throughout the weekend at Williams, and the Wallach Invitational hosted by Bates in two weeks.
"I think to a large extent we can [use the fall to work on doubles] because we have two matches in the fall against Salve Regina and Babson, we have the ITA Tournament and the tournament at Bates," Rosen said. "I think we really can put together some solid doubles lineups that work, and I'm really excited this year because we have two freshmen who are really playing good doubles now in Sam and Kai, who I thought did an excellent job in their first doubles match."
"I wouldn't go off and say that we're a doubles powerhouse right now, but I think that we are a much better team in a much better position than we were last year," Landers added.
On the singles side, every Jumbo player managed a straight-set victory, as Tufts combined to win 72 games compared to 21 taken by the Seahawks.
Playing at No. 1 for the first time in his career, Rosen cruised 6-2, 6-2 while Fountain dispatched his opponent 6-4, 6-2 from the second slot. Sophomore Tony Carucci made good on his first appearance of the season to win 6-3, 6-1 at No. 3, and Trott came in at No. 4 in winning 6-0, 6-3. Not to be outdone, rookie Laber came out and dominated at the fifth singles spot and won 6-1, 6-1, while junior captain Bryan Wilner rounded things off at No. 6 with a 6-0, 6-2 victory to complete the sweep.
"The singles ladder is looking good," Landers said. "There's a few people that I think are not in it that could very well come in and play No. 5 or 6 at any given time and do just as well. We have a lot of depth on our team; I think that if anybody gets injured, there are definitely people to step up and take their spot, and I think that's a pretty good position to be in."
With its first team win already notched, Tufts will now send some of its members to the ITA Regional tournament, consisting of tournament draws in singles and doubles that focus more on individual, rather than team, accomplishments. Furthermore, while the dual matches of the fall offer relatively light competition, the ITA Regionals will include the lead players from all across the conference.
"Generally ITAs have the very best players, so if you get in one or two good wins there in singles or doubles, it really gives you a lot of confidence," Rosen said. "This is the first tournament where you see the top NESCAC players, so regardless of whether you do well or not it lets you see what the competition is and lets you know what you have to work for."
"I think that I see it as an opportunity to set personal goals and to reach them because the competition is very high, so we can't go in there and set a team goal because it's very hard depending on where you are in the draw," Landers added.
Representing the Jumbos this weekend will be Rosen, Carucci and Laber in singles, while the two doubles teams will consist of Kohnstamm and Landers and Laber and Victoria. While the competition at ITAs will be tough with so many elite conference players convening for one tournament, there is certainly opportunity there for the Jumbos, even if winning either the singles or doubles draw remains a lofty goal.
"You're not going in expecting to win the tournament, but if you go in and beat one of these very good teams it gives you a lot of confidence the rest of the year saying you can compete with the top of the NESCAC," Rosen said.
