She might have been the national champion last spring, but after falling in the semifinals of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) New England Championships this past weekend, senior co-captain Julia Browne knows too well how each year brings a new set of competition and a new uphill battle.
For the second straight year, Browne provided the fireworks for Tufts at the championship hosted by Babson College. While last year Browne was the singles runner-up and a doubles champion at the tournament, this time around the reigning NCAA singles champion was outmatched in the singles semifinals and doubles quarterfinals by a new, talented foe: Amherst first-year Jordan Brewer.
Browne, the No. 1 seed in the singles bracket, did not lose a game on Friday in her first two singles matches, defeating Ashley Brunk of Bates and Nicole Block of Vassar by scores of 6-0, 6-0 in each. She again dominated in both her matches on Saturday, knocking off Caroline Capute of Williams 6-1, 6-4 and Amherst's Carlissa King 6-2, 6-1 to advance to the semifinals.
But Browne finally met her match on Sunday, losing 6-2, 6-3 to Brewer, the tournament's No. 4 seed. Brewer proceeded to throttle last year's tournament champion, No. 2 seed Kristin Alotta of Williams, 6-2, 6-0 in the finals, showing the potential of a national champion.
Browne said afterwards that she was impressed with Brewer's skill and composure, especially coming from a first-year.
"I wasn't used to playing someone in the tournament who hit the ball so deep in the court," Browne said. "I didn't seem to be able to do much to throw off her game. … The match could've gone either way, but [Sunday] she was definitely the better player."
In the doubles draw, the No. 3 seed duo of Browne and her new freshman partner Shelci Bowman cruised through the first two rounds, beating Emerson's Lacey Russell and Savannah Mosser 8-3, and Salve Regina's Erin Phillips and Ana Gwozdz 8-1. In the quarterfinals, however, Browne and Bowman's run came to an end against the No. 5 seeded duo of Amherst's Brewer and Gabby Devlin, who won 8-4 en route to the tournament title.
"We just made a few too many errors, and by the time we got our game back on track, we were already down by a lot," Browne said of the quarterfinal match of her first tournament with her new partner. "It was definitely a good experience for Shelci to play in her first college matches. We definitely have a lot to work on, but we also have a lot to be proud of."
"I thought Shelci did a great job in her first tournament," senior co-captain Edwina Stewart added. "It was very exciting."
Stewart was the only other Jumbo to win a match this weekend, defeating Gwozdz 6-2, 6-1 in the opening round. But Stewart could not escape the round of 32, where she lost to the No. 9 seed Jacqueline Shen of Wellesley in straight sets.
"I felt a little off going into my first-round match, but I found my rhythm eventually," Stewart said. "[Shen] is a really solid player, and I thought I did my best. I was disappointed to lose, but I didn't feel like anything went wrong."
Sophomores Lauren Hollender and Janice Lam were part of the six-player team Tufts sent to Babson. Both lost to their first-round opponents in the singles draw, Hollender 6-4, 6-3 to Williams' Lucy Marchese, and Lam 6-0, 6-3 to Bowdoin's Kate Winningham.
Lam played in the doubles draw as well, with junior co-captain Jennifer LaCara. The pair lost 8-1 in the first round.
The Jumbos will return to action on Sept. 30 when they host MIT for a dual match. There's no time to waste, as the team has just two dual matches and one tournament remaining this fall.
"Our season's pretty short," Stewart said. "So we have to come out strong."
