"Our fall season serves as a tune-up for the spring, a time to hone our skills in preparation for the main season," said Max Rettig '05. " If we follow up on our work in the fall and continue to practice hard in the off-season, we will be poised to make a run at the NESCAC championship. We will be looking for a birth in the national tournament, and as always, we will be gunning for Williams."
The season began with a near-sweep of Salve Regina University on Sept. 17. The men went 6-1, dropping only two sets. Rilla won at first singles, followed by victories by Danny Babkes '06, Rettig, Jon Godsall '06 and Bob Feeley '04 at third through sixth singles, respectively. All three doubles teams won as well.
Just two days later, Amherst traveled to Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. to compete in the ECAC North Championship. The Jeffs took five of six singles titles, beating opponents from Div. I Lehigh University in the final. Rilla, Babkes and Godsall dropped no sets at the first, third and fifth singles positions, respectively. Scott Bronner '06 teamed with Karti Subramanian '07 to win at first doubles.
"Our team victory at the ECAC tournament was probably the highlight of our fall season," said Rettig. "We defeated a host of Div. III and two Div. I teams, and we claimed five out of the six flights."
Amherst dropped its only match of the season to Div. I opponent Hartford University on Sept. 24. The Jeffs managed to take two matches en route to a 5-2 loss. Rilla and Godsall won at first and fifth singles.
On the weekend of Sept. 26, Rilla defeated two NESCAC opponents, Jon Bram of Tufts University and Jeff Kivitz of Williams College, to advance to the semi-finals of the Omni ITA Championship. He finally fell to Middlebury College's Nathan Edmunds, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.
In their final match of the season, Amherst pulled out a hard-fought victory over Brandeis University, 4-3.