Coming into the season, the Jeffs believed that this year would present the best opportunity in recent memory to knock off the Ephs, and although an injury to junior stalwart and number three singles player Lenny Lepner prevented him from competing, the team still hoped to steal one from Williams.
After the mere formality of losing the doubles point, which continues to elude the Jeffs in tougher matches, it looked like Amherst might recover sufficiently to accomplish their goal. Four of the six singles matches went the Jeffs' way in the first set. Seniors Josh Rilla and Danny Babkes each stormed out to impressive first set victories, in the first and second singles flights, respectively. Michael Mintz '08 and first-year Zach Lerner also won the first sets of their matches at the number three and five spots. If each had managed to hold on to their lead, the Jeffs would have won the match 4-3.
Sadly, this was not to be the outcome. Only Mintz hung on to win, beating the 49th-ranked player in the country, Jeff Kivitz, in straight sets. Rilla just missed edging out his opponent in both the second and the third sets. He lost the second in a tie-breaker, and served for the match at 5-4 in the third, but lost three consecutive games to fall 7-5.
Babkes and Lerner, the two who had won their respective first sets by the widest margins, suffered complete reversals. After winning the first set, 6-2, Babkes capitulated 6-3 and 6-2 to lose his match, while Lerner, after winning the first set 6-3, dropped the next two sets.
Although, the loss was certainly frustrating, the Jeffs at least have the consolation that they will have the opportunity to avenge the loss at the all-important season-ending NESCAC Tournament that will be held in Middlebury, Vt. beginning on April, 28th.
The team faced a difficult turnaround the day after the emotional letdown, having to play NYU as well as NESCAC rival Conn. In the first match against NYU, Amherst got off to an uncharacteristically good start against a ranked team by sweeping the doubles point. The singles on the other hand, was a little bit shaky, as the Jeffs lost three of the top-four singles matches, with only Babkes managing to salvage a point. Rilla lost in straight sets at the top spot, while sophomores Geoff Schwartz and Austin Moller each lost tough three-setters in the third and fourth spots, respectively. Down three-two, the Jeffs needed big performances out of the bottom of the line-up, and sophomores Jeff Wan and Tal Avrahami came through in the clutch. Both won their matches in straight sets to give Amherst the 4-3 victory.
The match against Conn. proved to be considerably less stressful, as the Jeffs swept the Camels 7-0 without dropping a set. Babkes and Rilla both got much needed rest, while little-used reserves Karti Subramanian '07, Sam Maurey '08 and Brad Corbin '09 got to see some match action.
The Jeffs suffered another defeat yesterday against Trinity College, 5-2. The Jeffs were close to getting the doubles point, with a hard-fought 8-6 victory from the number-one duo of Rilla-Babkes and a narrow 9-7 loss in the number-two spot from Jonny Godsall '06 and Schwartz. In singles, number-three seed Mintz and number-five seed Lerner notched the Jeffs' only two points of the day. The day went downhill for the Jeffs from there, as Trinity swept the remaining matches. Rilla, who was ill going into his match, retired halfway through the third set.
"After the first doubles victory, we were in position to beat a top-10 team, so we were pretty disappointed about the loss, especially since we also lost to Williams," said Wan. "But we hope to bounce back in our next match against Middlebury [College] and Tufts [University]."
With the victories, the team improved to 11-5 on the season. The only remaining head-to-head matches are against Tufts and Middlebury, both of which will be at the opposing team's courts. The matches are next Monday and Saturday, respectively. After that, the team will head into the NESCAC Championships, where they desperately want to improve upon their fifth-place finish from last season. Although Williams and Middlebury will provide significant obstacles, the Jeffs are a dark-horse to win their first championship since 1992.
NESCAC Notes
The NESCAC continues to be one of the strongest tennis conferences in the country, with three teams ranked inside the top ten. Middlebury hopes to regain the national championship it won two years ago. The Panthers have already beaten defending national champion UC-Santa Cruz, and stands at 14-2 overall, with its only losses coming to the Claremont Colleges and to Div. I Dartmouth College. Williams also has designs on a national title, but recently fell 5-2 against Middlebury. Trinity College, the third NESCAC squad in the national top-10, seems a good bit behind the other two, but also has high hopes for NESCACs and beyond.