Jumbos finish year as one of nation's best
May 22To be the best, you have to beat the best. The women's tennis team had its chances to do so, but despite an amazing season, couldn't earn victories in several key opportunities against the nation's elite. Tufts was ranked third in the nation after its fall season and carried a perfect 10-0 team record into the April 9 battle against No. 1 Emory, who journeyed up from Atlanta to face the Jumbos on their home territory. But the squad's 8-1 loss to the Eagles started a slide in which it fell 7-2 to No. 11 Amherst, finished fifth at NESCACs, and dropped a 5-4 decision to bitter rival Williams. Those teams finished Nationals as the top three in the country. "We didn't play as well in the spring as we played in the fall," coach Jim Watson admitted. "We won the matches we were supposed to win in the spring. But we played Amherst, Williams, and Emory. That's the cr??me de la cr??me, and we're one of them. I wish we could have beaten some of the teams above us, but most teams would kill to have that kind of schedule, let alone the kind of season we had." Indeed, the Jumbos were the kind of dominant team this year that an ordinary squad can't touch. Seven of their 11 wins were 9-0 shutouts, and three more were easy 8-1 victories. The squad was also balanced, as its top six players all notched between 14 and 19 wins. In the top three spots, junior Jen Lejb went 14-4, freshman Jen Luten went 19-5, and sophomore Becky Bram went 15-7. Senior captain Barclay Gang won 14 against eight losses in the four spot, while junior Lisa Miller (18-6) and freshman Kylyn Deary anchored the bottom of the rotation. Junior Trina Spear also went 9-1, and Miller was named second team-All NESCAC. One of Watson's biggest challenges was finding playing time for everyone on his deep squad. "We had difficulties at number three doubles because I was rotating different players in," the coach said. "They were all deserving of playing. It was tough to get consistency, but they all needed to play. I'm not sure they always understood, and maybe I could have handled it better." On the whole, Watson handled the team well, switching a red-hot Luten from No. 2 to No. 1 and then moving Lejb back to the top spot when she won tough matches at the second spot against Emory and Amherst while Luten faltered at No. 1. And the Jumbos' depth will serve them well next year, when both Bram and Miller go abroad. Miller will go abroad for the fall while Bram has not yet informed the coach of her precise plans. "It's a little confusing, but we've got plenty of depth and great freshmen and we'll piece it together," Watson said. "Jen Luten is the total package, and Kylyn made tremendous improvements in her game." "The freshmen were awesome and the team is only going to get better," added Gang, who played through a painful hernia senior year and departs with a 52-21 career singles record. The Jumbos bowed out in the NCAA Northeast Region championship to Williams by a 7-2 count. The win followed Tufts' 8-1 victory over Vassar in the first round. The loss marked the fourth straight year that the Jumbos have lost in the regional final, so next year's team will have a goal to shoot for. It will certainly have a lot of success to build on, thanks to this year's edition. After all, the only three Jumbo losses came against the teams that finished first, second, and third at nationals, so Tufts could conceivably claim that it was the fourth-best team in the nation. "Sometimes we didn't play as well as we could have," Luten said. "But on the whole it was an amazing season."

