The women's tennis team was supposed to kick off the spring portion of its season last week with a trio of matches in Florida against competition spanning the three divisions of college tennis.
Mother Nature, however, had other plans.
Rainy weather in south Florida forced the cancelation of two-thirds of Tufts' spring break slate, including matches against Div. II Palm Beach Atlantic and Div. III Johns Hopkins. The inclement conditions first appeared midway through the Jumbos' March 17 matchup with the Sailfish and persisted through the following day, when the team was scheduled to play against the Blue Jays in Miami Beach, Fla.
As a result, Tufts' first match of the break — a 5-2 loss to Div. I Rhode Island on March 16 — and an earlier scrimmage against Nova Southeastern wound up being the only contests the team played to completion. Still, the Jumbos were glad for the opportunity to squeeze in at least some match play, however limited it may have been.
"I definitely think we accomplished what we set out to do," coach Kate Bayard said. "We can't control the weather, and we got a good amount of tennis in before the rain. I feel good about how we adjusted to the outdoors, and overall, the trip was a huge success in terms of bringing the team together. I'm not too concerned with the one or two days that it rained. It was an awesome trip."
After suffering a 7-0 setback to URI a year ago, the Jumbos gave the Rams a run for their money in their most recent meeting. Almost five months since winning a national championship at the conclusion of the fall season, Tufts' tandem of sophomore Julia Browne and junior captain Meghan McCooey picked up right where it left off, recording a convincing 8-3 victory at first doubles.
Browne also went virtually unchallenged at first singles, cruising past Rams freshman Kristen Leikem 6-1, 6-1. The Jumbos' final victory of the day came from fourth singles, where junior Erica Miller came from behind to defeat sophomore Christen Cadigan 4-6, 7-6 (6), 10-6.
"I thought [Miller] showed so much heart when she played," Browne said. "She had a really good attitude the whole time and was really fighting for it. It just sets such a good example for everyone on the team, especially the freshmen, when an upperclassman has good composure on the court and fights really hard."
URI proved too strong in the end, however. With the teams using Div. I scoring, in which doubles is contested as best-of-three for one point, the Rams nullified Browne and McCooey's win with victories of their own at second and third doubles and headed into singles play with a 1-0 lead. A narrow 7-5, 7-6 (5) loss by McCooey at second singles and victories by the Rams in third, fifth and sixth singles tipped the final score in URI's favor.
Despite mounting a serious challenge against a Div. I opponent, Tufts emerged from the match frustrated by the outcome.
"At the end of the match, we were actually very disappointed in it because we felt like it was one of those matches that we definitely could have won," Browne said. "Everyone believed that they weren't that much better than we were. We were right there, but we just had some lapses in focus; people were getting distracted and thinking too much about the sun and the wind and weren't really focused on the actual match. So it was actually very disappointing, and we were all really upset that we couldn't rebound by playing the next two matches because of the weather."
Part of the Jumbos' difficulties may have stemmed from the fact that they were playing on an unfamiliar clay surface in Stuart, Fla. Still, the experience of playing on slower clay courts is expected to benefit the team down the line.
"I think the clay courts were really great for us," Miller said. "Soon, we'll be going on the hardcourts outside, which are a little slower than the ones we're used to inside. Playing on clay makes the ball go a lot slower, so it was difficult for us, but they gave us great practice for our outdoor courts. We had to hit a lot more balls to win a point, which worked on our patience. It was great for our team."
The break marked the triumphant returns of Miller and senior Mari Homma, both of whom missed the fall season after spending the semester abroad. Miller appeared to be on her way to another victory the next day against Palm Beach Atlantic, leading her third singles match 6-3, 3-1 before the rains came.
"Erica, both in singles and doubles, is going to help us a lot," Bayard said. "She's someone who certainly is right in the mix at the top of the lineup. She's just getting her groove back now, but she's going to get even stronger and stronger as the season goes, and she can do well anywhere in the top half of the lineup in singles and doubles."
Homma, meanwhile, teamed with sophomore Edwina Stewart to post an 8-3 victory at third doubles that was eventually stricken after rain halted play for good.
The Jumbos have the remainder of the week off before the NESCAC portion of their schedule begins on Saturday, with home matches against Colby and Bates.
