Tennis | Tufts sweeps all six doubles matches in routs of Colby and Bates for first NESCAC victories

    A 12-day layoff didn't slow the Tufts women's tennis team, which blew past a pair of NESCAC foes on Saturday in its first home matches of the spring campaign. After besting Colby 7-2 to start the day, nationally ranked No. 11 Tufts trounced Bates 9-0 to improve to 4-1 in dual matches this season.
    For the Jumbos, the weekend was a positive first step in a season in which they expect to finish amongst the conference's elite.
    "It was definitely good for us to boost our confidence by getting these wins," junior captain Meghan McCooey said. "We worked really hard all offseason in practice, so it's nice to get those wins early in the season. But at the same time, we know that the teams are only going to get stronger, and we're going to need to get better every day if we want to beat teams like Amherst and Williams that will come up later in the season."
    As part of their victories, the Jumbos went a perfect 6-of-6 in doubles play, getting a combined four wins from two recently formed pairings, the tandem of freshman Jenn LaCara and junior Erica Miller at second doubles and the duo of senior Mari Homma and sophomore Edwina Stewart at third doubles. Saturday marked the first official match results for either team, both of which debuted during a March 17 match against Palm Beach Atlantic that was ultimately rained out.
    "At No. 2 and 3, starting halfway through the Colby match and then for the entire Bates match, I was happy with how the teams played," coach Kate Bayard said. "They worked well from a tennis standpoint and a personality standpoint. All three teams looked like they had been paired together for a while, which is a good sign considering a couple of the teams are new."
    Meanwhile, sophomore Julia Browne and McCooey kept rolling along at first doubles, posting a pair of 8-2 victories to remain unbeaten over four career dual match appearances. In the three matches it has played since winning a national championship at the end of the fall, the duo, ranked second in the Northeast, has yielded just seven games.
    "We definitely have gotten used to each other's games," McCooey said. "That's helped a lot, and having a national championship under our belt gives us a lot of confidence. To know we can beat any team out there, it's really motivating. We're just hoping to keep that up and help the other doubles teams, too, so that we can all just play to our maximum capability."
    On the singles side, Browne made quick work of her opponents at the No. 1 spot, while McCooey added dominant straight-set victories of her own at second singles. Right behind them, Miller dispatched Colby sophomore Katie Brezinski and Bates freshman Meg Anderson at No. 3, upping her singles record this spring to 3-0. After spending the fall semester abroad, Miller has returned and helped solidify the top half of the Jumbos' singles lineup, adding depth behind the Jumbos' bona fide one-two punch of Browne and McCooey.
    "[Miller] worked hard when she was abroad at staying physically fit, but it was definitely a challenge to get tennis in; so when she came back, she was already fit, which was a huge bonus, but it was a matter the first couple weeks of getting her timing back and getting her match toughness back," Bayard said. "She's still going to get stronger through the season. She's a very strong player, and she's already shown that, and she's proven herself over the last couple years. She's now at the point where she's confident in herself on the court, and it really shows."
    At fourth singles, Stewart was part of two three-set matches, beginning with a thriller against Colby's Tara Davidson that ended with the Mules junior taking a deciding super-tiebreaker 10-8. Stewart rebounded against Bates freshman Brooke Morse-Karzen, pulling out a 6-2 victory in the third set after dropping the second 0-6.
    "[Stewart] showed a great amount of composure in that second match," Bayard said. "She's been working very hard on her patience and her consistency, and it really showed in that third set [against Morse-Karzen.] She is someone who has some of the most technically sound strokes that I've seen — she has every shot. For her, it's most of the time just a matter of consistency, and she has come so far with that … That was a good confidence booster for her, to turn it around in the third set."
    In her first taste of NESCAC play, LaCara posted two victories at fifth singles, including a come-from-behind 5-7, 6-1, 10-6 win over Bates first-year Erika Blauth. The sixth singles spot was split between junior Laura Hoguet, who fell in a narrow three-set decision to Colby freshman Sally Meehan, and Homma, who sailed past Bates junior Jean Gulliver 6-3, 6-0.
    The Jumbos will have the rest of the week off before they travel to Trinity on Friday for their first road conference match of the season. The matchup with the Bantams will begin a stretch of three matches in five days, which will culminate in a highly-anticipated showdown at home against national No. 6 Amherst on April 7.