Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the victory was the Jeffs' performance in doubles. The team has struggled mightily for some time to consistently perform well in the doubles point, putting them at a severe disadvantage in NESCAC competition. On Monday, however, the team was able to sweep the doubles point convincingly, with each team winning their pro-set by a score of 8-2. In an effort to solve the Jeffs' chronic issue with doubles, Head Coach Rick Edelmann has worked throughout the season to tinker with the lineup. For the Tufts match he went with the staple team of Josh Rilla '06 and Danny Babkes '06-the top two singles players who also won the NESCAC doubles championship in 2004-at first doubles. Geoff Schwartz '08 and Jon Godsall '06 teamed up at second doubles and first-year Zach Lerner and Tal Avrahami '08 played at the third spot. "Against Tufts, who has a similar rank in the NESCAC, it was good for our team moral to do so well in doubles," said Jeff Wan '08. "It shows that the new doubles teams that we played will be more formidable than the ones we have had in the past." The new-found chemistry could not have come at a better time, as the Jeffs have just one match left, against defending NESCAC Champion Middlebury Collge, before heading into the year-end NESCAC Championships.
The singles also went well. Rilla, having fully recovered from feeling ill during his last match, thoroughly dismantled his competition at the top singles spot, winning 6-1, 6-3. Babkes and Lepner also posted victories at the number-two and three singles flights, as both showed resilience in winning tough three-set matches. Lerner also doubled dipped for the team, winning both his doubles and singles match. He won his singles match at a convincing 6-1, 6-2. After the Jeffs had locked up the victory, sophomore Michael Mintz decided to stop playing his match rather then continue into a third set. The only Jeff to drop his match was Godsall, losing 6-3, 6-4 in the fifth flight.
Next week the team will conclude its head-to-head matches against Middlebury College, ranked fourth in the country and the top team in the NESCAC. The match will be an occasion for Rilla to renew his rivalry with Brian Waldron, one of the top-five singles players in the country. Last year, Rilla beat Waldron while the Panther was ranked as the top Div. III singles player in the country. The Jeffs will also have another chance to measure themselves against one of the best teams in the nation, an opportunity they have actively looked for this season, as three of the team's five losses this season have come against teams ranked in the top 10 in the nation.
The following week the team will look to improve upon last year's fifth-place finish in the NESCAC Championships. Although the team has already lost to Williams this year, they were without the services of dependable number-three singles player Lepner. Despite Lepner's absence the team won the first set in four of the six singles matches, but ended up losing three of them.
Next Saturday's match against Middlebury will take place in Middlebury, Vt. at 1:00 p.m. The NESCAC Tournament, taking place the following weekend, will also take place at Middlebury's courts.
NESCAC Notes
The NESCAC teams are all gearing up for the NESCAC championships which will take place two weekends from now. The Jeffs are currently the fourth-highest ranked team in the conference at 21st in the nation. Ahead of them are Middlebury, Williams and Trinity Colleges, all of which are ranked in the top 10. Bowdoin and Bates Colleges also field very respectable squads and both were ranked in the top 25 at the beginning of the year. The top teams in the region will go on to compete in nationals. Middlebury will be looking to reclaim the national championship they won in 2004.