Last fall the Jeffs burst back into NESCAC contention, posting their best conference finish in four years and garnering their first national ranking of the new millennium. Despite such impressive results, the team knew coming into this school year that it could not afford to be complacent. Amherst still has a long way to go to catch up to the elite of the conference, specifically Middlebury and Williams Colleges, ranked second and seventh in the nation, respectively. The Panthers, then the defending national champions, eliminated the Jeffs in last year's Northeast Regional final and went on to finish runner-up at nationals. Although their fifth-place finish at NESCACs was the team's highest in recent memory, the Jeffs were still disappointed, having hoped to finish third or higher.
Coming into the fall slate, which mainly serves as a warm-up for the more critical spring schedule, the Jeffs looked to shake off the summer rust and evaluate new players as well as the progress of returnees.
The rust removal went quite well, as the Jeffs looked sharp in consecutive sweeps of Salve Regina and Brandeis Universities. In the Salve Regina match the Jeffs did not drop a single set and managed to bagel the Seahawks in seven of the 15 sets played. The Brandeis match was only slightly more competitive, as Amherst dropped a total of two sets while only playing one-third of the tennis top singles lineup.
In the only NESCAC contest this fall, the Jeffs managed to level the White Mules of Colby College, 6-1. The lone Colby point came at the top-singles spot where the typically-dominant Josh Rilla '06 had a rare off-day and fell in a marathon three setter, 7-6, 3-6, 11-9. The only other loss was in the number-three doubles match, but it turned out to be insignificant as the teams of Lenny Lepner '07 and Jon Godsall '06 as well as Rilla and Austin Moller '08 both won their matches to capture the doubles point. The rest of the team also cruised with Lepner, Mike Mintz '08 and Jeff Wan '08 all winning their matches in straight sets while Godsall and first-year Zach Lerner both eked out three-setters.
The Jeffs also performed solidly in two individual tournaments, the Wallach Invitational and the ITA New England Regionals. At the Wallach Invitational-hosted by Bates College in Lewiston, Maine-the Jeffs won two of the six events and finished second in three, including a one-two finish in the 'C' singles bracket. Wan and classmate Tal Avrahami combined to win the 'B' doubles, while Geoff Schwartz '08 and Lepner advanced to the final of the 'A' doubles before losing to a team from Bates. Godsall won the 'C' singles bracket, beating Moller in an all-Amherst final. Danny Babkes '06, the team's usual number-two singles player, advanced all the way to the finals before falling to the second-ranked singles player in the nation.
The results were not quite as positive at New Englands, where the Jeffs faced much stiffer competition. Of the five Amherst singles entrants, three managed to make it as far as the third round, but each of them lost to a player from Middlebury. Both doubles teams that the Jeffs entered lost in the first round, including another loss to the Panthers. All told, the Panthers dominated the tournament about as thoroughly as possible. On the singles and doubles sides, three of the four semifinalists and both finalists were from Middlebury. The Panthers went 16-1 against competitors from other colleges. Nonetheless, the Jeffs were not discouraged. "Our team had three guys in the round of 16, which was second-best to Middlebury and better than Williams, who had only one," said Jeff Wan '08. "So, all things considered, we feel pretty confident going forward."
The team seems to have plenty of reason for optimism. Having finished last year ranked 17th in the nation last year, the Jeffs figure to be even better, having retained their entire singles line-up from last year. They also have seen encouraging play out of freshman Lerner, who figures to crack the top six. Moller is another exciting prospect, as he was perhaps the team's most-highly recruited freshman, but missed the vast majority of the season with nagging injuries. Wan has also picked up his play considerably, and there looks to be an interesting four-way competition brewing between Wan, Moller, Godsall and Schwartz for the number-six singles spot.
With perhaps their strongest lineup in years, the Jeffs will begin their quest to advance even further in the NCAA Tournament in the fall.