The women's tennis team returned home Sunday afternoon after a successful trip to New Jersey. The trip featured matches in Ewing and Princeton, NJ against Division III opponent The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) and the junior varsity team of Division I powerhouse Princeton University.

The Jeffs, who played both matches in the same day, began the trip at TCNJ. Amherst dominated their mediocre opponents, sweeping both the singles and doubles matches 9-0. Jamie Cohen '01, Stephanie Fong '02, Susanna Burke '03, Heather Cole '02, Carolyn Pastel '01 and Vass Kozoulina '02 led the way with singles victories, while doubles tandems Kozoulina and Cohen, Fong and Cole, and Burke and Pastel also won their matches.

The match, which was played inside due to inclement weather conditions, was very important for the Jeffs. The indoor playing surface was very fast, and the Jeffs had to adjust quickly in order to win their matches.

"It was a good win for us," said Pastel. "Playing on that kind of surface is different from what we are used to, but in order to be a good team you must be able to react well to adverse conditions."

Amherst continued their winning ways with a 4-2 decision victory over Princeton's junior varsity squad. Because Princeton is a Division I program, the match was played using a different scoring format. Under this system, the winning team of the collective doubles matches receives one point, as opposed to the Division III system where each individual doubles win earns one point. The Jeffs swept all three doubles matches, with Roopali Agarwal '03 stepping in to fill Cole's shoes, to earn one point. Burke, Pastel and Kozoulina all won their individual matches to carry Amherst to the victory.

The Jeffs have next weekend off, and will spend much of their time preparing for the NESCAC Tournament, which will be played the weekend of April 20. Amherst appears to be the team to beat. Sports Illustrated For Women predicted that the Jeffs would be the national champions this spring, but they must get through the conference tournament first, and then worry about nationals.

"Things are looking pretty good for us right now," said Agarwal. "We'll have to work hard in the upcoming week and a half and really keep up our intensity. There are a lot of good teams in the league this year, but I think we can get it done."