Tennis

Tennis

Women's tennis third of 25

August 31

The women's tennis team closed out an undefeated Fall season with a third place finish at this past weekend's New England Championship. The meet, which featured 25 teams from around the region, was played at Amherst College. "We fought really hard," freshman Heidi Kashani said. "We came out with a victory because we got third. I thought we fought for every single point and never gave up." Tufts finished behind two NESCAC opponents, Amherst and Williams, neither of which the Jumbos played this fall. "Both Williams and Amherst are really tough teams," Kashani said. "I still believe we are better than them. Whether it's that they have the mental edge above us, we really believe that we'll beat them in the Spring." The highlight of the tournament for Tufts was the doubles play of freshman Jenn Lejb and junior Katie Nordstrom. The pair, playing at #1 doubles, won five matches en route to a championship. Lejb and Nordstrom, who were a perfect pair this season, defeated third-ranked Stephanie Fong and Heather Cole of Amherst 7-6 (7-4), 6-4. Junior Iffy Saeed was the high individual finisher for Tufts, placing second in the #5 singles bracket. Saeed lost in the finals to Williams' top-seeded Jasmine Bradley. The other five singles players fell in their respective semi-final matches. Lejb played #1, followed by senior co-captain Erika Lee at #2, Nordstrom at #3, freshman Heidi Kashani in the #4 bracket, and freshman Neda Pisheva at #6. The third place finish is pleasing for the Jumbos, though they will not be able to use any momentum gained from the weekend. Due to the split schedule, the team now has a five-month wait until resuming play at Wesleyan on March 30 of next year. Five players ended their fall season undefeated in dual-meet play: Nordstrom and Saeed were 8-0, Kashani was 7-0, Lejb was 6-0, and Pisheva was 5-0. Aside from talent, the Jumbos are also blessed with youth - Lejb, Pisheva, and Kashani are all freshmen. Lee, and co-captain Heather Rich, who was used for doubles this season, are the only seniors on the team. "We had three freshmen on the team, which is kind of hard," Kashani said. "But everyone managed to pull through. The upper classmen were very supportive." The Spring season is significant because it includes the NESCAC Championship - where Tufts finished sixth of ten last year - and the NCAA Championships - where Tufts lost to Williams in the Northeast Regional Finals.

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Tennis

Women's tennis continues perfect season

August 31

Middlebury, Vt was the scene of the fourth straight victory for the women's tennis team on Saturday, when Tufts dominated all three doubles and six singles matches against the Panthers in NESCAC action. In its second consecutive shutout, the Jumbos posted a score of 9-0 over the Panthers, after disposing of the Bates Bobcats by the same score. Freshman Jennifer Lejb, in the number one singles position, won 7-5, 6-2, and has yet to lose a set this season. Senior co-captain Erika Lee won her match in the number two spot, 6-4, 7-6, followed by junior Katie Nordstrom at number three with an impressive 6-1, 6-1 win. Another promising freshman, number four singles Heidi Kashani, came close to sweeping her opponent Laura Libby with a 6-0, 6-3 finish. The Jumbos continued this season's doubles unbeaten streak with wins from Lejb and Nordstrom, 9-7, Lee and Saeed, 8-2, and Kashani and senior co-captain Heather Rich, 8-6. The match puts Middlebury at 2-2 on the year, one game off its pace from last season. Defeating Middlebury isn't new to the Jumbos, who beat the Panthers last season, 7-2, winning one doubles match and sweeping the singles. One difference from last season was the top two doubles pairings. Last year, Nordstrom and Lee were 9-3 and ranked ninth in the East, but ultimately lostin the New England Quarterfinals. Both are playing with new partners, Lejb and Saeed, respectively, and have been successful. The duos have won all seven of their matches. "Even though they were really successful we still had a problem with chemistry," coach Jim Watson said. "I think I made the right move because now we have two strong teams instead of one and the doubles are really gelling." This time last season Tufts was 3-1, with the only blemish coming from a 3-6 loss to Williams. This year the team won't face its top rivals - Williams and Amherst - until the New England Championships, Oct 19-21. This year also marks the second time in team history that the season will include a spring schedule. "It is just too bad we couldn't do it before because the team likes to have the year-long objective of getting back to Nationals and I think that is a good goal," Watson said. Hoping to rip through their fall schedule before the spring, the Jumbos' next NESCAC contenders are the Bowdoin Polar Bears on Saturday Oct. 6. It is Tufts' first home meet of the year, and the Jumbos will be on the lookout for sophomore Polar Bear Alexis Bawden. "She is a hard-hitter on both sides," Watson said. "Erika Lee beat her twice last year and that second match was real tough. Lee met her again in the New England's and beat her in straight sets." This year, however, Bawden has stepped it up and made it to the semifinals of the Women's ITA championships, before falling to top-seeded Selma Kikic 6-4, 6-3. Bowdoin is also undefeated, with wins against Middlebury and Wesleyan. It is fair to say that the Jumbos will be facing a worthy NESCAC adversary in the Polar Bears, but with home court advantage, the team hopes to keep its streak alive.

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Tennis

Women's tennis upset over NESCAC Championship results, seeding

March 31

The women's tennis team had a very disappointing showing at the first ever NESCAC Women's Tennis Championship this weekend. After coming in third place overall at the New England Championships in October, which featured NESCAC foes as well as other non-conference opponents, the Jumbos finished sixth out of a field of ten in the NESCAC Tournament, the team's last competition of the season barring an NCAA berth. One of the few highlights of the tournament came at the banquet on the first night, when Jim Watson, Tufts' head coach for the last 20 years, was named the NESCAC Coach of the Year. "It was a big surprise to us," captain Jen Lai said. "I think the recognition reflects how he has progressed over the past couple of years." But the team's happiness for Watson's award was soon mitigated by the exceedingly difficult draws for the Tufts players. In the first and second rounds, every Jumbo player had to face either a player from Amherst or Williams, the only two teams that beat the Tufts all year, and the two teams that finished ahead of the Jumbos at the New England Championships last fall. "It was an absolute farce," Watson said of the pairings. The Women's A singles tournament is a prime example of the controversial seeding. Sophomore Katie Nordstrom, Tufts' number-one player, was not seeded in the draw because she had withdrawn from a match, which she was winning, against Trinity's Diana Goldman in the fall season. Goldman was given the win and the fourth seed in the A flight (only the top four were seeded). As a result, Nordstrom faced the reigning Division III National Champion, Amherst's Jamie Cohen, in the first round. Cohen, who had beaten Nordstrom earlier in the week 6-0, 6-1, had a little more trouble this time, but emerged with a 6-1, 6-4 victory. The other Jumbo playing the A flight, freshman Barclay Gang, was forced to move up from the B flight because junior Erika Lee could not attend the tournament because of the MCAT. Gang's first-round opponent was William's number-one player, Caroline Wasserman, who was ranked second in this draw. Gang lost the match 6-2, 6-2. "Barclay could beat more than half the kids in the A draw," Watson said. Similarly, in the B draw, sophomores Emily Warshauer and Iffy Saeed met up with the number-one and two ranked players in the draw in Williams' Tracey Cheung and Amherst's Susanna Burke in the second rounds. Warshauer lost 6-1, 6-2 to Cheung, who went on to win the draw. "Emily's playing great tennis, but she couldn't even get out of the starting blocks," Watson explained. Saeed, on the other hand, stormed out of the gate, and was able to out-duel Burke, emerging with a 6-4, 7-5 victory. "I knew that I could compete with her. I just played her point for point," Saeed said. "I had nothing to lose, and she had everything to lose." Saeed went on to beat Trinity's Olga Bogatyrenko 6-4, 6-4 to make it to the semifinal round. In the semifinals, Saeed, exhausted from her match earlier that day, lost a tough three set match to Williams' Brooke Gibson, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. "We were pretty equal, but she won some crucial points, and that was the difference," Saeed said. The C singles saw more of the same for Tufts. Sophomore Rachel Hammerman, who was the number three seed, had to face Amherst's Wallis Molchen in the first round, while junior Jen Lai was pitted against Williams' Steph Hall in the second round. Hall and Molchen proved to be too tough, dispensing of the Jumbos players in straight sets. "It was a real screw-job," Saeed said of the tournament. "It's really not possible that it was random," she said, referring to the draws. Coach Watson did put an appeal through, but NESCAC officials insisted that the draw was random. "Teams that we had beaten 8-1 and 9-0 came out ahead of us," Watson said. In addition to Amherst and Williams, who were second and fourth in the nation, respectively, at the end of the fall season, the three teams that finished ahead of Tufts were Trinity, Wesleyan, and Middlebury. Tufts handily defeated all three during the fall season, 8-1, 9-0, and 7-2, respectively. Watson referred to the tournament as "a disaster." The doubles draws were kinder to the Jumbos, and Tufts' top two doubles teams, Nordstrom and Saeed, and Gang and Warshauer, both made it to the semifinals before being ousted by an Amherst or Williams squad. Despite a disappointing weekend, the Jumbos are still hopeful that their regular season record and their performance at New Englands will give them an NCAA Tournament berth. "If this tournament factors into our not making Nationals, I will raise hell," Watson said. Tournament bids are announced on May 2.

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Tennis

Women's tennis volleys to success at Middlebury Invitational

March 31

Due to a recent decision to have a spring tournament for women's tennis (prior to this change, there had been no NESCAC tournament), the tennis team will be playing a split season this year; for the first time, there will be spring games. "The spring season gives us exposure to get selected for NCAA regionals and get more national recognition than we've ever had," head coach Jim Watson said. The fall half of the season went well for the Jumbos, with their only loss coming at the hands of Williams College, which finished the fall season ranked fourth in the nation by the ITA. Tufts ended the fall ranked eleventh. The tennis team began its spring season against Brandeis University on April 4, quickly disposing of the Judges 9-0. "We could have beaten Brandeis with our JV squad," head coach Jim Watson said of the competition. This past weekend, Tufts traveled to Vermont for the Middlebury Invitational. The event did not feature team scoring - everyone played for herself. "Because there was no team scoring, it took some of the pressure off the girls who were able to loosen up because they weren't worried about losing it for their teammates," assistant coach Doug Eng said. This helped the Jumbos, as all players had impressive results. In the Women's A division, sophomore Katie Nordstrom, Tufts' top player, and freshman Barclay Gang, performed impressively. Each played in the semifinals for a chance to face-off in the finals, but Nordstrom, who was ranked ninth in the east by the ITA on Dec. 12, couldn't top the eventual winner, Gabriela Ruiz of RIT, who was ranked fourth in the east in the same ITA poll. Gang lost to Ruiz 6-3, 6-1 in the finals. Tufts' four and five players, sophomores Iffy Saeed and Emily Warshauer, competed in the B singles tournament. Warshauer made it to the quarterfinals before being crushed by UVM's Lindsay Cutter in straight sets. Saeed, however, was able to win the draw by topping Cutter 6-2, 6-3 in the final. In the last of the singles draws, C level, a Jumbo again made it to the finals. Sophomore Rachel Hammerman crawled into the finals exhausted after two previous three-set matches. UVM's Lindsay Sine cruised through, not dropping a set en route to the finals. She was able to take advantage of her fresher legs and beat Hammerman 6-2, 6-2 for the championship trophy. Senior Jen Lai had met Sine in the quarterfinals. For the doubles matches, the Jumbos did not play with their usual partners and had to adjust quickly. In the A bracket, Gang and Nordstrom made it to the semifinals before dropping a close set 8-6 to the eventual winners. "If Barclay and Katie had played together before, they would have probably won," Eng said. Saeed and Warshauer were paired up for the B division and were able to overcome the obstacle of unfamiliarity and make it to the finals before losing to their opponents from Middlebury 8-6. Eng predicted that had his team played together all season, it would have come away with a trophy. In the C division, Hammerman and Lai were paired up. This team, although seeded number one in the draw, was not able to compensate for the fact that they had never played together before and fell in the quarterfinals to the team from Middlebury. The goal of the tournament was to get the team ready to face the NESCAC's number-two team in Amherst next Wednesday and then compete for the NESCAC championship next weekend. "It was exactly what we needed," Eng said.

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Tennis

Women's tennis team aces both MIT and Bowdoin

August 31

The Tufts women's tennis team steamrolled through its competition last week, dominating MIT 8-1 and then defeating Bowdoin 6-3. Tufts played well in a match that, last week, coach Jim Watson called "scary" because the Jumbos would be without freshman Barclay Gang. They gave up one doubles match and two singles matches on the day. Gang, who has been playing very well for the Jumbos, took a trip home to Miami this past weekend to get an old wrist injury looked at. This caused her to be absent from last Saturday's match but it didn't seem to phase the Jumbos. "We responded well to being without Barclay there," sophomore Rachel Hammerman said. "We really took it in stride. We have so much depth on this team that it really isn't devastating when someone misses a match." It obviously wasn't devastating, as Tufts cruised to a 6-3 victory on Saturday. The Jumbos beat Bowdoin in two out of the three doubles matches, an area where Tufts usually struggles. The number-one doubles team of sophomore Katie Nordstrom and junior Erika Lee beat Sanida Kikic and Kathleen Maloney easily 8-1. The second doubles team of sophomore Emily Warshauer and junior Heather Rich followed the first doubles team by defeating Alexis Bawden and Betsy Hayes 8-5. The only wrinkle in the doubles play for the Jumbos the third doubles team of junior Daniella Fontecilla and Iffy Saeed, who lost a close match 8-6. In the singles matches, Bowdoin challenged several of the Jumbos, but the team was still able to pull out four of the six matches. Nordstrom struggled through the first set of her first singles match, losing it 6-1 to Kikic. She then won a tough second set 7-6 and regained her form in the third set winning 6-3 to take the match. Lee was challenged as well in her second singles match. She won the first set 6-4, but Bawden took the next set from Lee by the some score. Lee recovered, however, winning the third set 6-4 to clinch the match. Iffy Saeed, who was taking Gang's place in the third singles spot, played well and took the match in straight sets 6-1, 6-3 from Hayes. After the first three singles matches, the Jumbos hit a snag, dropping the fourth and fifth singles. Warshauer, who was moved up one slot from her usual fifth singles spot, lost in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 to Maloney. Rich, who was playing fifth singles, looked good in her first set, which she won 6-3. However she relinquished the last two sets 6-1, 6-0 to Paulette Hricko. Hammerman ended this small losing streak in her sixth singles match by dominating Edwards 6-1, 6-1. Two days before the match against Bowdoin the Jumbos looked very good in a commanding 8-1 victory against MIT. "It was a decisive victory," Hammerman said. "I thought we played really well." The only match that Tufts gave up was that of the second doubles team of Warshauer and Gang. Even this, however, was not that bad of a loss. "The only match that we lost was a close match," Hammerman said. "It wasn't like they got blown out or anything. They still played well even though they lost." The Jumbos now hope to continue their success this week with two tough matches against Wesleyan and Trinity. Tufts will be looking forward to tomorrow's home match against Wesleyan since the Jumbos lost to them last year in a close 5-4 contest. "There were circumstances surrounding [last year's] matches," Hammerman said. "It was getting dark, so I am confident that we will beat them this year." Hammerman is similarly confident about the following match on Saturday at Trinity. "We didn't have a problem with them last year," she said. "And I think we are better this year so we should beat them." The Jumbos want to win these next two matches a little bit more than usual because they want to go into the New England Championships on a good note. The Championships will take place Oct. 20-22. Those matches will end the fall season and let the Jumbos know where the stand in New England.

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Tennis

Women's tennis returns strong

August 31

Women's tennis coach Jim Watson is living the dream of every coach in the history of college sports. Every one of his players returned from last year, and he has a talented crop of freshmen to boot. All this means that it is time for the tennis team to challenge and defeat perennial NESCAC leaders Amherst and Williams. And the players know they have a chance. "We really want to finish in the top two or three," junior Heather Rich said. "We have to be strong against Williams and Amherst." In fact, two of Tufts' three losses last year to Div. III foes (the 9-4 Jumbos lost once to Div. I Harvard "B" team) were to the Ephwomen and the Lady Jeffs. However, this could be the year for the Jumbos to compete with the depth of those powerhouse squads. Tufts will have its work cut out; last year, the Jumbos lost to Amherst 9-0 and Williams 8-1. "They are both really deep and consistent," Rich said. "We need to match their consistency, but this year we have a lot of good freshmen who can compete with Williams and Amherst." Sophomore Emily Warshauer feels that part of the problem is mental. "We can't psych ourselves out," Warshauer said. "It's easy to say that they're so good, but we have to know we can win because we have the talent if we're at the top of our game." Everyone on the team is talking about the freshmen, and while they may not be on the varsity squad this year (although two freshmen are currently in competition for spots), they do complete an already deep team. The Jumbos are so talented from top to bottom that coach Watson has yet to make a complete lineup, despite the fact that the team kicks off the season this Friday with a match at Smith. "We are all really close, it's tough to determine a lineup," Rich said. "The last person on the team is almost as good as the first person." Still, the team's top two spots are fairly certain. Sophomore Katie Nordstrom should return at the number one spot, as she will be trying to improve her number 10 rank in the ITA East Region. Right behind her will likely be junior Erika Lee, who finished last year as the 20th ranked singles player in the East Region. After that, the team remains uncertain of who will play where. The fact that it will be so hard to determine rankings could mean trouble for the Jumbos in the first few matches, as the players remain unsure of where they may be playing. "We probably won't know where we will be playing until Wednesday for the Friday match," Rich said. "We may not have time to get ready to play in our spot or to get ready with our doubles partner." Of course, if that's the biggest problem the Jumbos have, they are in good shape. Rich had trouble pinpointing any other weakness for this team. Warshauer had a similar problem, as she feels that the team is solid all-around. "We are just working on our consistency in practice," Warshauer said. "All around, we are all pretty strong players." And don't worry too much about the lineup creation; the Jumbos have a 20-year veteran taking care of that. Through 19 years, Watson has a 125-88 record, and is one of the top coaches in the region. "Having such a veteran as a coach means that we're not worried about the lineup," Rich said. "He knows exactly where everyone is playing, and he tries to stress teamwork as well. Even though tennis is an individual sport, he tries to make it a team sport." Other top contributors will be Warshauer, who made it to the New England semi-finals in the fourth singles division last year, and senior Jen Lai, who was also a semi-finalist in 6th singles. Two doubles teams qualified for the semi-finals as well. In addition to her strong play, Lai also brings great leadership qualities to a fairly young team. She and fellow senior Sucharita Kuchibhotla are co-captains and the only two seniors on the team. "They bring stability to the team," Rich said. "They are the backbone. They know what's going on, and they are both strong players." Good leadership from the coach and captains, plus a youthful,experienced team should at least help to build on last year's 9-4 record and number four ranking in New England. "Having everyone back and such strong leadership gives us that much more confidence to start the season," Rich said. "We know we're not starting from ground zero. We're just adding to the success that we had last year." Warshauer feels that if the team keeps things simple this season, it should be easy to build on last year. "We just want to have fun, and have a lot of team unity," Warshauer said. "If we just go out and try our best, we will have success."

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