The squad posted an impressive 14-8 record in perhaps the most difficult conference in Div. III tennis and achieved its goal of reaching a second-consecutive NCAA Tournament. The Jeffs went 6-6 in NESCAC play, but three of those losses were to Middlebury College, which advanced all the way to the NCAA Finals for the third-consecutive year before falling to Emory University.
The Jeffs will set their sights high again this season, looking to crack the national top-10, advance to a third-consecutive NCAA Tournament and to finally achieve an always-elusive victory over Williams College. They will have to do so without the help of last year's co-captains Josh Rilla '06 and Danny Babkes '06-the team's top two singles players and top doubles duo for three consecutive years. Graduation also claimed Jon Godsall '06 and Scott Bronner '06.
Study abroad will also take a heavy toll on the team's depth. The Jeffs will be without the services of junior Tal Avrahami, who is spending the fall semester in Buenos Aires and the spring in Tel Aviv. Avrahami was one of the team's most dependable doubles players and frequently played in the singles lineup as well. Juniors Michael Mintz, Geoff Schwartz and Sam Maurey will also be abroad for the less-important fall stretch of the season.
Despite the losses, the Jeffs still stand to be competitive. Four of the top six singles players will return, including senior Lenny Lepner, who looks to take over the top spot. Last year's first-year phenom, Zach Lerner, will step up to number two in just his second year. After that the lineup becomes murky, as Jeffrey Wan '08, Michael Mintz '08 and Geoff Schwartz '08 should all see some time in the singles lineup. Sophomore Brad Corbin and senior Karti Subramanian also both have a chance to see some significant match time. "Every NESCAC team has graduated a captain," said Wan. "Frankly, we think our returning players are going to crush their returning players."
Wan's bold prediction will have a chance to come true starting Sept. 16, in Ithaca, N.Y. when the Jeffs will open up their season against Div. I Cornell University. In late September they will go to Williams to play the ITA New Englands, and in October they will play the Wallachs Invitational at Bates College in Lewiston, Me. Both the New Englands and the Wallachs Invitational are individual, rather than team, competitions.
NESCAC Notes
Once again the NESCAC comes into the season with a slew of nationally ranked teams and a couple of National Championship contenders. Middlebury is ranked second in the nation after their loss to Emory last spring. Williams is not far behind, ranked fourth in the country, and Trinity College rounds out the preseason top 10. Amherst is ranked 16th in the country and the Maine trio of Bowdoin, Bates and Colby colleges all also made the top-30. Although Middlebury will once again be the preseason favorite, in a conference this deep, just about anything can happen.