The women's tennis team ended its fall season over the weekend when it sent seven players to Amherst to participate in the New England Women's Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament (NEWITT). At the Davis Cup-style event, all four of Tufts' pairings won their first-round matches and three advanced to the quarterfinals of their respective draws.
"I was very impressed with how well we did," assistant coach Chelsea Mills said. "I really felt like we won all the matches we should have won. We definitely won all the matches that could have gone either way, and we even pulled out some matches that some people might have thought we should lose. I really don't think we could have done much better."
The format of the event featured a series of best-of-three battles in which teams of two players competed against each other in two singles matches and one doubles match.
With two of their top players, sophomore Julia Browne and junior captain Meghan McCooey, away at Nationals, the Jumbos boasted a tournament squad that included four freshmen, two sophomores and junior Laura Hoguet. Only Hoguet had appeared at NEWITTs before. But the Jumbos' inexperience didn't prevent them from competing well against the strong competition at the event, which drew teams from 25 schools from one of the most competitive regions in the nation.
"It's actually kind of nice that we have such a young team because they don't necessarily know what an Amherst or a Williams is and how good they are," Mills said. "They don't have this preconceived notion that we're playing such a great team when they go into a match ... It's just great to see them compete so hard and so well against these top teams at such a young age."
Tufts' No. 1 duo of freshmen Jenn LaCara and Jen Lavet made a run to the Round of 16 in the Gail Smith draw before falling to Amherst's No. 2 team, consisting of freshman Laura Danzig and junior Jill Wexler, 3-0. But the Jumbos didn't surrender without a fight, holding match point in the doubles contest before losing in a third-set super tiebreaker.
Playing in the Chris Davis draw, the tandem of Hoguet and freshman Katie Pritchard won its first three matches, knocking off counterparts from Mount Holyoke, MIT and Trinity. Meanwhile, freshman Nat Schils and sophomore Edwina Stewart teamed up to reach the second round of the Gail Smith draw.
The final Tufts entrant was sophomore Hillary Rosen, who was paired with sophomore Katy Hallinan of Simmons in the Chris Davis draw, where the pair reached the final 16.
The tournament marks the end of the fall season for the Jumbos, who will now take the next five months off in preparation for the longer, more competitive spring campaign. The positive results from the weekend send the team into the winter on a high note.
"I think they should be feeling very, very confident going into their offseason training given how well this season ended," Mills said. "But they still know that they can get better and that they're going to have to work for every match. We have a confidence, but we're not going to be cocky about some of these successes we've recently had."
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