Tufts cruised to an 8-1 victory against host Babson College on Friday, its last full-squad match of the fall. The Beavers' one singles victory was the only match the Jumbos conceded in three dual contests this season.
The Jumbos were dominant across the board, winning two singles matches at love and losing no more than three games in a set of singles play, with the exception of the No. 1 singles match. They also won all three doubles matches by scores of 8-1, 8-2 and 8-4. Top singles player, junior Andrew Lutz, suffered the only loss, 6-1, 6-1 against freshman Connor DeFiore — the best of a trio of first-years in Babson's top three singles spots.
Though the Jumbos cruised to their victories — as they have throughout the fall — they made sure to remain focused.
"You never want to go into a match taking the other team lightly," senior tri-captain MorrieBossen said. "We had beaten them by wide margins in the past and we knew that going in, but still we don't want to end up losing to a team we know we can beat. So we took them seriously, as they deserve to be taken."
It was also a good opportunity to work on individual skills.
"We all have individual things that we're working on," Bossen said. "I think everyone was able to go in with a gameplan of how they wanted to affect the match, based on what they wanted to improve and based on their playing style."
There were also some team concepts in mind, such as playing aggressively at net in doubles, which is something coach Jamie Kenney has stressed in her first year on the job.
There has been plenty of time to refine skills at this fall's matches, since the Jumbos' competition has been sub-par; they defeated Roger Williams and Salve Regina on Sept. 18, each in 9-0, shutout fashion. Next year, they will play a more challenging fall schedule.
"It's always a nice confidence booster when you destroy a team," senior tri-captain Kai Victoria said. "But in general, that's not indicative of the level of competition we're going to see."
For now, however, there is no use in complaining.
"The schedule had been set, and we've been doing it for three years, and we've had the same results against these opponents for years," Bossen said. "Going forward we're going to try to get in more tournaments as opposed to dual matches, but I don't think there's a sense of frustration on this team at all."
A few players will get to compete one more time this fall at the Harvard Halloween Tournament, which last year included players from Harvard, Dartmouth, Brown, Amherst and MIT. Bossen, Lutz, sophomores Austin Blau and Pat Monaghan and juniors Ben Barad and Mark Westerfield represented Tufts in 2010, and Lutz and Barad reached the doubles final. Bossen is hopeful that the squad can send as many as four singles and two doubles teams this year.
"It's one of my favorite tournaments of the year," Bossen said. "It's an individual competition, but we've done it the past few years and last year we did relatively well in doubles. It's just a chance for us to see how we can compete with some strong competition. It will be nice at the end of the fall to play some very strong players."
After this Sunday, the Jumbos will stop holding official team practices and, in accordance with NCAA Div. III rules, won't practice with their coaches again until February. Bossen and fellow tri-captains Victoria and Sam Laber will organize captains' practices about twice a week, and the players will also hit and work out on their own.
The offseason should give the Jumbos time to return to full strength after some minor injuries, though Monaghan's is the only serious one. He hurt his back, but he hopes physical therapy will help him return at the start of the spring season.
"Pat's injury is worrisome, but he has the rest of the fall, winter break and the beginning of spring to get better," Victoria said. "So we're hopeful that he'll be ready."
