The 14-3 Panthers, ranked fourth in the nation, boast four nationally-ranked players, while Josh Rilla '06 is the only ranked Jeff. The Jeffs fought valiantly, however. In fact, there were several close matches."The Middlebury match was a lot more competitive than the score indicates," said Babkes.
Rilla played a very tight match; he was defeated in two 6-7 sets. Number two Danny Babkes '06 won his first set but then lost the second two in a disappointing 6-4, 2-6, 5-7 loss. Jeff Lawrence '07 and co-captain Max Rettig '05 were each defeated in straight sets, playing third and fourth singles, respectively.
Senior co-captain Rob Feeley suffered a close 4-6, 5-7 loss at number five, while Jon Godsall '06 rounded out the Jeffs' singles slate with another hard-fought loss. Rilla and Babkes paired for Amherst's only victory of the day, squeezing out a close 9-8 upset win in first doubles over the number-one team in the region. The Panthers took the doubles point, however, defeating Godsall and Lawrence at second doubles as well as Arpan Podduturi '05 and Scott Bronner '06, the third doubles team.
Bowdoin is ranked 13th nationally, but the Jeffs felt that the Polar Bears were within reach. The Jeffs were disappointed, however, as they were swept for the second time in as many days.
Feeley came close to a win at fifth singles, losing the first set in a tiebreaker, 6-7 (7-9), and then dropping the second set, 4-6. Pairs Rilla and Babkes and Godsall and Lawrence each suffered close losses, the former falling 6-8 and the latter 7-9.
"[Bowdoin was] a team that we knew we could beat and use to boost our confidence. Unfortunately, they played more aggressively and confidently than we did," said Feeley.
Amherst faced Trinity yesterday and called the match at 4-0, when a Jeff come-back was impossible. Amherst faces MIT on today. "I have no doubt that our team is as talented as ... MIT. We just need to get a breakthrough win against one team ranked ahead of us to gain the confidence to start competing at the level we're capable of," said Babkes.