The No. 24 Jumbos continued their losing streak this weekend, falling 8-1 on Saturday against No. 21 Bowdoin and 5-4 in a nail biter on Friday against No. 20 Colby. Their sixth straight loss brings Tufts' record to 5-10 on the season.
Junior co-captain Mercedes Barba, playing in the No.3 spot, had the sole victory Saturday against the Polar Bears, beating Bowdoin sophomore Monica Wlodarczyk in three close games. Barba boasts a 9-6 record for the season.
"Since coming back early [at the end of winter break], everyone's shots have been really improving," Barba said. "Everyone's getting the confidence to play their game, and not their opponent's game, which is a really easy thing to end up doing."
Senior co-captain Valerie Koo won the first and fourth games in her five-game match at the No. 2 spot, but lost 11-4 in the final game against Polar Bear junior Elizabeth Warner. Tufts sophomore Jessica Rubine and junior Alyse Vinoski each fell 3-1.
Tufts put up more of a fight on Friday in its 5-4 loss against Colby. The middle of the Jumbos' ladder shined, with wins coming from the third through sixth spots. Barba won in a back-and-forth five-game match, finishing with an 11-5 win in the last game.
The No. 1 and No. 2 players, junior Alix Michael and Koo, each fell in three games. At the No. 4 and No. 6 spots, Rubine and sophomore Ushashi Basu each lost their first two games before turning it around and winning the last three to clinch the victory.
Sophomore Risa Meyers at the No. 8 spot, on the other hand, won the first two games before Colby senior Penny Kagan managed to take the final three. Meyers' hard-fought match, unfortunately for Tufts, proved to be the tipping point.
"If we get another chance to play Colby, and hopefully we will, I think it could go our way," Barba said. "We've gotten a lot better in terms of our confidence. You can see that with [Basu] and [Rubine] who came back after being down, which was really impressive."
Prior to playing Tufts, Bowdoin on Jan. 27 upset No. 20 Colby 6-3, which will most likely force a change in the rankings.
This weekend, Tufts will play Wesleyan at Trinity in the first round of the NESCAC tournament. If Tufts wins in the first round, they will move on to play Williams in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
The Jumbos lost 9-0 to the Cardinals earlier this season on Dec. 3. The Jumbos' previous defeat, however, isn't deterring them. In the Dec. 3 matchup, Tufts forced three five-game matches in the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4 spots and were missing Meyers at No. 8.
"We're looking to show this weekend how we've improved over the past couple of months," Basu said. "We saw this weekend that it's really about winning for the team, and that's something we're focusing on. Each player needs to come out every day and play to win."
