In its first taste of a jam?packedNESCAC schedule, the men's tennis team secured a pair of 9?0 wins, beating Connecticut College and Wesleyan in matches that tested, but did not trip up, the Jumbos.
Matched up against perennial NESCACbottom?dweller Conn. College on Thursday, the Jumbos stressed the importance of staying focused on the task at hand in their first time playing at Tufts this season.
Before the match, coach Jaime Kenney tinkered with the doubles lineup, making slight adjustments to strengthen each pairing. Though the second team of senior co?captain Sam Laber and junior Ben Barad stumbled a little out of the gate, falling behind 4?1, the moves ultimately paid dividends, as all three pairings came away with wins.
"It was important for the new doubles teams to get off on the right foot," senior co?captainMorrieBossen said. "[The changes] made everyone a little stronger at each position. We beat them 9?0 with us being incredibly focused."
On the singles side, the Jumbos took care of business in the same fashion, with only Barad forced to play three sets, coming back and winning 3?6, 6?2, 6?2.
It was exactly the kind of performance the Jumbos were looking for coming off of a convincing victory at the end of their spring break trip to Hilton Head, S.C.
The Jumbos maintained their momentum going into Sunday's match against the Cardinals, leery of the competition after a close victory last year, 5?4. In their first chance to play on their new outdoor courts, and with an energetic crowd in attendance, the Jumbos struck early and did not let up throughout the match.
The doubles pairs set the tone, preventing the Cardinals from winning more than five games in any of the three matches. Wesleyan's doubles pairs may have been stronger than Conn. College's, but Laber felt that the Jumbos' pairings played even better in Sunday's match, rising to the challenge against stiffer competition.
After the doubles teams established a 3?0 Tufts lead, the singles players followed suit, and no Wesleyan player took a set in any of the six matches. The lone singles match not decided in two sets came in the No. 1 spot, where Barad took a victory after one set when his opponent was forced to retire due to injury.
But the captains didn't let that cloud the team's third straight victory, aware that matches like this demonstrate the depth and strength of the team.
"Everybody really rose to the occasion," said Laber, who didn't face any early struggles in his doubles match with Barad this time around, taking it 8?4 and winning his singles showdown 6?3, 6?1.
"Everyone at every position played well," Bossen said.
The Jumbos will now look to extend their winning streak with Wednesday's home match against Merrimack College, another school that the Jumbos narrowly edged, 5?4, last season.
"They're a good team so we have to make sure that everyone brings the focus," Bossen said. "These are the matches that really count and are the reason that we put in all the hours in the fall and in the winter."
In their three straight victories, the Jumbos have won by a combined score of 26?1, a streak that has prepared them for a loaded schedule in the upcoming weeks. Though they hope to keep up the same spotless run going forward, Laber understands the difficulty of maintaining the team's dominance from the last two matches.
"It's pretty difficult to beat anyone in our conference 9?0 once, let alone twice," he said.
