The women's tennis team had more than held its own in recent matches against some of the premier programs in the country, pushing Amherst in a slim 5-4 defeat on April 7 and challenging Williams in a narrow 6-3 setback four days later.
So when nationally ranked No. 15 Middlebury came to Medford on Saturday, Tufts rightfully had every reason to believe it could compete with the Panthers. Instead, the No. 19 Jumbos emerged with their most lopsided dual-match loss of the season, a 7-2 decision that dropped their record to 7-4 on the season.
"It was really disappointing," junior captain Meghan McCooey said. "Everyone definitely fought hard. We all were trying our hardest on every point, but there was just a little something that was missing, and they were just a little tougher than we were."
"A bunch of us were a little bit surprised by how good they were," sophomore Julia Browne added. "We knew that they had been good in the past, but we haven't seen them, and we don't talk about them as we do Williams and Amherst. But they came out really strong, and in singles, they were the team that just played a little bit smarter."
Browne had a hand in both Jumbo victories, first teaming with McCooey to record a convincing 8-2 victory at the top doubles spot over Middlebury senior tri-captains Chandra Kurien and Elizabeth Stone.
In singles play, Browne was taken to three sets in a dual match for the first time since April 15, 2008, receiving her toughest challenge of the season from Middlebury freshman Victoria Aiello. But after dropping the second set 4-6, Browne responded with a vengeance, closing out the match with a 6-0 triumph in the third to give the Jumbos a victory at first singles.
"The second set was really close, and then she picked up her game a little bit, played a little smarter and took a few more risks," Browne said. "It was just a matter of a few points that decided who won the second set. And then I just refocused ... [and] got ahead pretty quickly and just kept rolling from there."
But despite having trouble with Browne, Middlebury faced little resistance from the rest of the Tufts lineup, surrendering just a combined seven games en route to wins at second and third doubles and taking four straight-set wins in singles. One of the highlights for the Panthers came at second singles, where Kurien was a 6-1, 7-5 winner over McCooey, who entered the match having won each of her last seven singles decisions.
One of the tighter contests was played at fifth singles, where freshman Jenn LaCara shut out Middlebury's Anna Burke in the first set. But the Panthers first-year regrouped in time to take the match, winning the final two sets by identical 6-2 margins.
The Jumbos have one final match remaining on their regular-season slate before the NESCAC Tournament begins on May 1. Sunday, Tufts will travel to Bowdoin to take on the No. 18 Polar Bears, who represent the team's fourth nationally ranked opponent in its last five matches.
"I think it's going to be a really important match," McCooey said. "Middlebury was a really tough loss, so I think our whole team is really pumped to get back out there on Sunday. We're glad that we have one more match before NESCACs and NCAAs start, not because our confidence is wavering but just to get back in that mentally tough mindset and go from there."
Besides being the final opportunity for the Jumbos to tune up before the start of postseason play, the match is also noteworthy for a likely marquee matchup at first singles between Browne and Bowdoin senior captain Sarah D'Elia, respectively the top two players in the Northeast region according to the most recent ITA rankings. When the two met in a dual match a year ago, Browne didn't surrender a single game in a dominant victory, but D'Elia has posted a strong campaign, winning her first 11 matches of the spring before losing for the first time on Sunday.
"I think all of us are going to work really hard this week to try to rebound from our loss against Middlebury," Browne said. "We need to approach it like we did Amherst and Williams, with the same kind of focus and expecting them to be good but that we're capable of beating them. I think that if we just go out with the right mindset, we'll do great."
