Last Tuesday, the men's tennis team faced Wesleyan University with the opportunity to build its first NESCAC winning streak of the season, and the Jumbos delivered with an 8−1 victory. Unfortunately for Tufts, its brief two−game mark came to an abrupt end at the hands of national No. 12 Williams over the weekend thanks to a 9−0 drubbing.
On Saturday, the Jumbos again faced a NESCAC rival in the Williams Ephs, who came into the match ranked No. 12 in the country. In the doubles matches, the Jumbos were competitive, challenging the Ephs and losing three close matches 8−4, 8−5 and 8−4, respectively.
In the singles, sophomore Kai Victoria battled valiantly in the No. 3 spot against Williams senior Jeremy Weinberger. After losing the first set 6−3, Victoria battled back, winning the second set 6−1 before losing the match in a tiebreaker 10−6.
"Against Williams we started out in all three doubles matches playing very well, and a few things just didn't go our way, and then Williams pulled ahead," senior tri−captain Andrew Rosen said. "Williams is one of the best teams in the country. We came to play and gave it our best effort, but they played better than we did."
Victoria's match was the only close one, though, as Rosen fell 6−0, 6−0, and the rest of his teammates followed suit in straight sets. Only freshman Ben Barad, at No. 5 singles, won more than three games in any given set, but also fell, 6−2, 7−5.
The sophomore combination in No. 1 doubles of Victoria and Jake Fountain also fought hard against Williams. Victoria and Fountain were tied with Ephs senior co−captain Nick Lebedoff and sophomore Dicken Chaplin, 4−4, before dropping the final four games to cede the match.
"Williams served well, and we didn't have the opportunity to break, and our returns weren't as crisp as they should have been," Fountain said. "They also returned really well, and kept their composure on the big points, which led to their two breaks."
The loss came shortly after the Jumbos took down the Cardinals, 8−1, for just their second conference win of the year.
"We felt going into the Wesleyan match, similar to the Hamilton match [which Tufts won on April 11], that if we played well, we had the tools to win, and I think that we came out and really played well," Rosen said.
The Jumbos started out quickly, dominating the doubles matches. Tufts' No. 1 tandem of Victoria and Fountain continued its impressive season winning their match over Wesleyan sophomore Michael Piderit and first−year Jeff Legunn, 8−5.
At the No. 2 doubles spot, Barad and freshman Andrew Lutz combined to defeat Wesleyan freshmen Ravy Uong and Alex Hirsch, 8−2. Early on, the match was closely contested, but at 2−2, Barad and Lutz broke serve and coasted the rest of the way for a commanding victory.
Meanwhile, at the No. 3 spot, senior tri−captain Daniel Landers and freshman Mark Westerfield had a considerably more difficult time shutting down the Wesleyan tandem of sophomores Robert Troyer and Brian McDermott. McDermott and Troyer proved to be tough competition for the Tufts duos, battling back in the match getting on serve down 7−6, but Westerfield and Landers broke to win the match 8−6.
In singles, Tufts won five of the six matches, the lone loss coming in the No. 1 position from senior tri−captain Andrew Cohen, who lost in a tough match 6−1, 2−6, (10−6). But the rest of the singles performances yielded winning results.
Barad continued his impressive season, winning in the No. 5 singles 6−3, 6−3 over Wesleyan first−year Don Kleckner, while sophomore Sam Laber won his No. 4 singles match, 3−6, 6−2, 6−2, getting the fifth point for the Jumbos and clinching the match.
In the sixth singles slot, junior Tony Carucci endured a tough match, blowing a 5−3 lead in the first set in which he had set points, losing 7−5. Carucci then regained his composure and focus, winning the second set 6−0 and closing out the match with a 10−7 win in the super−tiebreaker.
The Jumbos continued their busy schedule, taking on non−conference opponent Wheaton College on Tuesday. Results were not available at press time. The squad will then take on Trinity (10−3, 2−2 NESCAC) at home on the Voute Courts in a last−ditch effort to garner some NESCAC wins before the season rounds out.
"Trinity has always been one of the top teams, but this year they are not as highly ranked as they have been in past years," Rosen said. "We haven't beaten Trinity since 2007. They are a very talented team, but I think we will have a better shot against Trinity then we had against Williams, and everybody will have to play phenomenally well."
