On Tuesday, the men's tennis team cruised against non-conference No. 22 Brandeis 6-3, marking its 11th win of the season — the most in the program since 1996. The win against the Judges was also the Jumbos' first outdoors win against a ranked opponent this year, just in time for tonight's season finale against No. 24 Bates.
"The Brandeis match was our first outside match since Colby," senior co-captain Paul Kohnstamm said. "We showed that we could beat a ranked team outside, and with the Bates match looking like its going to be outside, that's important."
The No. 1 tandem of junior Kai Victoria and sophomore Andrew Lutz began the Jumbos' sweep of doubles play with an exciting 9-8 tiebreaker win. In the No. 2 slot, junior co-captain Morrie Bossen and sophomore Mark Westerfield went down early against Brandeis seniors Nick White and Steve Nieman, 5-1, but a resurgence propelled them to an eventual 8-6 victory.
"Our match was a great comeback, and Mark really spurred us on," Bossen said. "He really picked me up. I wasn't playing well at the beginning. ... I really fed off of his positive energy and was able to turn my game around, too. We played against two really good players, including Nick White, who is one of the best singles and doubles players in the region. It was great for Mark and I as a team to beat him and to come back from such a deficit."
Then, the No. 3 team of Kohnstamm and junior Sam Laber cruised to an 8-4 victory to give the Jumbos momentum going into the singles matches and giving an extra assurance boost to a team that has had some tough defeats as well as wins this season.
"The fact that we swept doubles was big for our confidence. A bunch of us only play doubles, and it's something that we take a lot of pride in, getting a doubles sweep against a ranked team," Kohnstamm said. "It really sets the tone, and it's something we have to do against Bates."
In the No. 2 singles position, Lutz defeated Brandeis sophomore David Yovanoff 1-6, 6-4, 6-3. Lutz got off to a slow start but found his groove and became more energetic in the second and third sets, closing out the match.
"Lutz just got really aggressive and taking it to the kid and kept serving and volleying and pressing the issue at net, which for him is the key, and he played well to win the match," Bossen said.
At No. 3 singles, sophomore Ben Barad defeated Judges senior Ezra Bernstein 6-3, 6-1, while freshman Austin Blau continued his strong play, defeating senior Steven Nieman 4-6, 6-4, (10-4).
With their previous NESCAC successes against Trinity and Wesleyan, the Jumbos look poised to achieve their preseason goal of a postseason berth in the conference tournament. A win against No. 24 Bates tonight would cement the No. 5 seed for Tufts, while a loss would put the Jumbos in a three-way tie for the No. 6 seed, the final berth in the NESCAC tournament.
The Jumbos haven't beaten the Bobcats since 2007, but they hope that this time will be different as the squad looks to clinch a tournament spot.
"We definitely feel good about where the team is now, but the job isn't done," Kohnstamm said. "The Bates match is really the climax of our season, and we are one step away from reaching our goal that we set at the beginning of the season — to make the NESCAC tournament and end the season with a national ranking."
