The Jeffs began the day with a 10 a.m. match against the clearly overmatched Blue from Wellesley. Amherst dominated their mediocre opponents, winning all of the singles and doubles matches. Co-captain Jamie Cohen '01, Stephanie Fong '02, Susanna Burke '03, Heather Cole '02, Co-captain Carolyn Pastel '01 and Vas Kozoulina '02 all led the way with singles victories, while doubles tandems Cohen and Paige Lawrence '03, Fong and Cole, and Burke and Pastel also chipped in big wins for Amherst.
The match was important for the Jeffs. They needed to prove to themselves they were not the same team that showed up for NESCACs the week before.
"It was a good win for us," said Roopali Agarwal '03. "Obviously, we were not satisfied with our second place finish last weekend. This weekend was a good way to get back on track."
MIT came into its matchup with Amherst looking to establish themselves as one of the better teams in New England. But Amherst continued their winning ways with a 9-0 victory over MIT. While the competition was not the best the Jeffs faced this season, it was an impressive victory nonetheless.
This week the conference awards were announced, and the Jeffs fared quite well. Earning first team honors for Amherst were Pastel and Fong. Agarwal, Burke, Cole and Wallis Molchen '04 all earned second team honors.
Cohen retained her grasp on the NESCAC for another season and was named Player of the Year.
With the regular season complete, the Jeffs will host an NCAA Regional this weekend. Williams will enter the tournament as the number one seed, but do not count Amherst out.
"I think that we are going to prove that our loss at the NESCAC Tournament was an aberration," said Argawal.
In this postseason the Jeffs look to regain the form they had in 1999, when they took home the team title as well as the individual title, won by Neely Steinberg '99. Last year Cohen took home the individual title, and she is one of the favorites for this year's title as well.