The team began its season with a series of three sound victories at the Williams Invitational Tournament, defeating Bowdoin, Smith and Connecticut Colleges.
In their first match of the season and the weekend, Amherst defeated Bowdoin, 6-3.
The Bowdoin match was an important win for Amherst, indicating to the Jeffs their competitive status amongst other NESCAC teams such as Colby and Bates.
"Beating Bowdoin was a huge win not only because they won Division B last year at the national tournament, but also because they had beaten us handily," said Ashley Harmeling '05, who plays in the first slot for the Jeffs. "The win over Bowdoin gave us the much-needed confidence going into many more important matches."
Four first-years led the way in the win for the Jeffs. Classmates Caroline Shannon, Emily O'Brien Abigail Mantica and Emily Zandy won in the third, fifth, seventh and eighth spots, respectively. Juniors Ali Gibbs and Tara Kenney also tallied wins for Amherst in the fourth and ninth slots.
The Jeffs finished the invitational with a pair of 9-0 victories over Smith and Connecticut College.
Gibbs, Shannon and O'Brien all went undefeated, winning not only three matches apiece but also dropping no games to their opponents.
The Jeffs certainly had momentum going into their match against Dartmouth University two days later. However, an Ivy-league opponent is never an easy foe, and Dartmouth, ranked sixth in the nation, proved this true. The Big Green promptly handed the Jeffs a 9-0 loss in their first match at home.
The Jeffs took the defeat as a learning experience and threw themselves into the Amherst Invitational with renewed vigor. The team tallied three victories and one loss at the Amherst Invitational the weekend of Jan. 18.
Amherst began the weekend by beating Middlebury College, 7-2. However, a loss to the fifth-ranked University of Pennsylvania followed. The Jeffs proceeded to bounce back with resounding wins over the Mount Holyoke College Lyons and the Colby College White Mules, winning 8-1 and 9-0, respectively.
Playing without number one player Harmeling, the entire Amherst team stepped up to beat Middlebury. Liz Martin '04 filled the number one spot, never an easy task. Though she and Shannon, who played the number two spot, lost their matches, the rest of the team came through. Gibbs, O'Brien, Stark, Kenney, Mantica, Pam Burkardt '04 and Zandy won in the third through ninth spots, respectively.
Harmeling was back for the Colby match and led the way for the Jeffs with a win. Martin showed particular resilience playing second. Despite dropping the first game, Martin rallied, winning by slim margins in the second and third games and then sealing the deal with a 9-0 victory in the fourth to win the match 3-1.
The disparity between the three teams Amherst defeated and the Penn team that did not allow a single match loss against Amherst was very apparent. As a result, a number of Jeffs did not have a good, close match all weekend, either cruising to victory or struggling valiantly but ultimately losing quickly.
With a 6-2 record the Jeffs journeyed to eighth-ranked Brown University to take on the Brown Bears. Although Amherst was ultimately defeated, the Jeffs did manage to win one match, their first match victory against an Ivy this season.
Shannon eked out the Jeffs' sole win in an intense five-game match, rallying from two games down to ultimately win at the third spot.
Last Friday, Amherst hosted Cornell University and suffered a very disappointing 4-5 loss. It was certainly a match that could have gone either way. O'Brien, Mantica, Kenney and Zandy comprised Amherst's four victories in the defeat.
"Cornell was a tough loss, but luckily we will see them again later this season and I am confident we will win," said Harmeling. "We are a team with so much potential, and we will only get better in this last month of competition."
Rebounding from their close Cornell loss, the Jeffs easily defeated Smith College by a score of 9-0.
As classes begin again at Amherst, the Jeffs have an intense week of matches in front of them.
"Even though this sport is an individual one fundamentally, it will be vital to support and motivate each other before matches so that we can pull out some big wins against other Division B teams," said Harmeling.
Tomorrow Amherst faces Wellesley College at home and hosts a twinbill versus St. Lawrence College and Tufts University on Saturday. The Jeffs have a good chance of coming away with a trifecta of victories on their home courts.