This spring, the team will return all of its players from last year's NCAA tournament qualifying squad, after missing a number of players to study abroad programs.
Throughout the fall, the Jeffs were hampered by depth problems after an injury to Co-captain David Wellner '02, and the absence of Adam Leibsohn '03, among others, who is abroad for the fall semester. To make up for the losses, the Jeffs were forced to play many young or inexperienced players over the course of the fall schedule, a fact that will only help the Jeffs when their top players return for the spring season.
Andrew Merle '04 was one of the younger players that stepped up for the Jeffs this fall. Merle competed in all three singles matches on the fall slate, and emerged from the season undefeated. In the season ending match against the University of Massachusetts, Merle put in his best performance to date, beating UMass's number four singles player, 6-0, 6-2. Finishing the season with this victory gives positive indications of what is possible for Merle in the spring season.
The emergence of Will Abbott '05 also helped the Jeffs this fall. Abbott was forced into the singles ladder due to the absence of three upperclassmen, and he performed admirably in their place. Abbott finished the fall with a singles record of 2-1.
This fall the men faced tougher competition than they have in the past. They opened the season at the University of Hartford, where they were narrowly defeated. The Jeffs were able to win a split in the six singles matches, but they were swept in doubles to lose 4-3. Doubles proved to be their Achilles heel over the course of the fall season.
However, the small margin of defeat yielded some content amongst the Jeffs. "Our players all played very well," said Head Coach Peter Robson. "Hartford is a very good Division I team, and the loss could have been much more severe."
Following their opening match, the Jeffs went to their only tournament of the fall, the Rolex Invitational at MIT. Amherst only sent a limited squad of four players to this tournament, but these four all played well against top-notch competition.
Two of the three Amherst singles representatives reached the third round of competition. Bryan Wexler '02, who is the Jeffs' top singles player, was seeded eighth, the highest of any Jeff. He received a bye in the first round, and proceeded to dispatch of his second round opponent. In the third round Wexler fell to Toby Relgeluth from Williams College.
The highlight of the tournament was the play of Rob Feeley '03. Feeley breezed through his first round match, winning 6-1, 6-1, but he then faced the tournament's seventh seed, Andrew Kolesnikov of MIT. Feeley won a very close first set 7-5, and then crushed his opponent with a 6-0 win in the second set. Feeley finally bowed out in the third round, but his play was clearly the best of the day for the Jeffs.
"It was a great match and a great win for Rob," said Wexler. "Rob has been picking it up with the absence of Brian [Chin '03] and Adam [Leibsohn]."
The lone dual match win for Amherst this fall was against Brandeis University, whom they trampled 6-1. This was the third win over the Judges in as many years. The Jeffs took five of six singles matches, with their one loss coming from junior Andy Tsai's exhausting three set, tie-break loss at number two singles (7-5, 5-7, 6-3). In doubles, the teams of Tsai and Co-captain Peter Ransmeier '02 and Merle and Andy Sagor '03 took home victories.
Unfortunately, the Jeffs did not end their fall season on such a positive note, as they fell to UMass 5-2 to wrap things up. The UMass contest was an addition to the schedule this year and it looked like Amherst had the upper-hand going into the match. A week before they faced Amherst, UMass got trounced by Hartford 6-1, a team Amherst had lost to just 4-3 in the first match of the season.
Again, doubles play hurt the Jeffs, as they were swept in the three doubles matches, but they were not able to make up enough ground in singles play for that fact to matter. The Jeffs dropped four of its singles matches to UMass, with only Merle and Tsai winning their matches.
"We could have won if we were more confident," said Tsai. "But we played like we were intimidated by UMass."
After this fall, the Jeffs are well-prepared to face their spring opponents, which consist mostly of NESCAC teams. The Division I losses do not affect the Jeffs ranking but they have allowed the team some good practice for the spring season. The absence of Chin, Wellner and Leibsohn hurt the Jeffs in the fall, but it also allowed for a young, relatively inexperienced team to mature.
The Jeffs have plenty of depth and experience to look forward to come spring and have realistic expectations of another NCAA tournament appearance.