In its home opener on Friday, the men's tennis team took down Babson in commanding fashion with an 8-1 victory.
The victory was a unifying one for a team that spent last weekend separated due to multiple away tournaments at Middlebury and Brown. Playing together on the Voute Tennis Courts for the first time this year gave the Jumbos the extra momentum they needed to secure the win against rival Babson.
"We had amazing fan support. Having our family, friends and faculty cheer us on makes all the hard work we put in incredibly rewarding," sophomore Rob Jacobsen told the Daily in an email.
The success for Tufts first came in the doubles matchups. The No. 2 doubles team, comprised of sophomore Jay Glickman and freshman Ryan Rosen, won its match handily 8-1. No. 3 doubles partners, seniors Matt Pataro and Austin Blau, won their match 8-4.
The only match Tufts dropped was in No. 1 doubles where sophomore Rob Jacobson and freshman Brad Wong lost a close match against Beavers Victor Vu and Roberto Perez, 8-6.
Once singles play was underway, Tufts was able to take a firmer hold of the contest.
Freshman Kevin Kelly took out Babson's Connor DeFiore in the No. 4 singles match with a convincing 6-0, 6-3 win. No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 6 singles, Glickman, Jacobson, Wong and Tan, respectively, all won their matches in straight sets.
The closest match of the day was a contest between the No. 5 singles players Rosen and Babson freshman Davin Garcia. After a close first set that Garcia took 6-7(1), Rosen came back, winning the second 6-2. In the third set tiebreak, Rosen caught fire again, reeling off points at a time to win 6-7(1), 6-2, 10-3.
For the Jumbos, playing focused tennis was the biggest key to victory.
"I think [a] big factor is our attention to detail in every single match," Jacobson said. "From top to bottom, we kept our energy high, and our unforced errors low. We took care of each individual point and in the end it was enough to get the win at eight spots."
The Jumbos attributed their early success to the hard work they put in during the off-season and the hard work they are continuing to put in now.
"I think everyone's hard work through the summer was evident in the early stages of the season," sophomore Josh Girson said. "Additionally, everyone has put in a ton of time and effort since we've been back just really working hard to make the team better."
Also over the off-season Tufts men's tennis gained an assistant coach - Conrad Olsen. Olsen, a Middlebury graduate, earned All-American honors in singles in 2007 and 2009, and, among other accolades, was named NESCAC Player of the Year in 2009. Conrad brings in experience and knowledge of what it takes to do well.
In just a little over a month, Conrad has become an influential part of the Tufts men's tennis team.
"Conrad has been an amazing addition to the Tufts men's tennis program. What he really brings to the table is database of experience and knowledge, which results from his accomplishments as a heavily decorated NESCAC player," Jacobson said. "He fundamentally understands what it takes to be a championship team, starting with the desire and commitment, all the way to the shot making and strategy."
Tufts looks to continue its hard work from the off-season in order to keep up their strong performance.
"We have the same plan for the rest of the season as we have had all year," Girson said. "Practice hard every day and hopefully reap the benefits with good results."
The Jumbos will stay goal-oriented as they move on through the rest of the fall season.
"We obviously have a lot of goals that we are aiming to accomplish as a team. The first was definitely to have a great performance in our first and only home match of the season, which we were able to accomplish," Jacobson said.
Tufts looks to continue their season at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Championships tournament held at Middlebury later this week and then the Wallach Invitational tournament held at Bates in mid-October.
