The ITA Championships are the biggest individual event for the Jeffs in the fall season and provide the best competition. Winners of the ITA singles or doubles events automatically qualify for the national ITA event and achieve All-American Honors.
There were some really great matches played against tough opponents," said junior Jen Murphy. "This tournament only features the top few players at all of the Northeast schools, so every player there is good and puts up a fight in each match they play."
In the past two years, junior Alicia Menezes has been a part of a pair that has won the doubles tournament at the ITA New England Championships. This year, despite a new partner in first-year Brittany Berckes, Menezes expected the same result. Seeded number three, Menezes and Berckes won a close semifinal match by a score of 9-7 over the second-seeded team of Mezin and Walther of Wellesley College. The duo entered the championship round confidently and defeated the number-four seed of Roche and Smyser of Middlebury College in a convincing 8-4 victory.
"Thanks to my doubles partner and our team's play, we pulled out the doubles championship," said Menezes. "It could not have been more enjoyable. Our games and attitudes seem to complement each other so well making every match so much fun."
The other Amherst doubles teams also played great tennis, as they both won their first match, but dropped the second. The team of senior co-captain Katie Hudson and junior Monica Snyder defeated Schwarzkopf and Stubblebine of Wellesley 8-6, but fell to Hughes and D'Elia of Bowdoin 8-5.
Junior partners Laura Stein and Jen Murphy had a similar path as they defeated Remak and Bender of Connecticut College 8-5. In the second round, however, they fell to Mezin and Walther 8-3.
In singles action, Amherst also had a lot of success, despite many players falling victim to a tough draw.
Menezes, Hudson and Berckes defeated their opponents in decisive scores. Murphy had a close first match, winning 7-6, but took the second soundly 6-1. Stein and Snyder faced difficult opponents that drew them out to three matches, but both survived to play another round nevertheless.
"Laura, Katie, Brittany, Monica and I all had pretty unlucky draws by having to play top-seeded players in the second round," said Murphy. "However, we forced our opponents to have to play pretty hard to move on to the next round."
In the second round, Menezes was the only one able to advance, winning in convincing fashion (6-2, 6-0). Stein fell victim to a tough opponent in third seed Jenny Mezin (6-2, 6-0). Murphy lost a close match against a tough Williams foe (6-1, 7-6) and Snyder and Hudson lost close matches (7-6(6), 6-3) and (7-5, 6-1), respectively. In one of the best matches of the tournament, Berckes showed her toughness as she almost took down the number-two seed and eventual champion. After losing the first set 6-3, Berckes came back strong, exploiting her opponent's weakness and won the second set 6-2. Playing a tie-breaker to decide the outcome, Berckes lost a close game by a 10-8 score.
Advancing out of the second round, Menezes advanced to the quarters by defeating Kelsey Hughes of Bowdoin College (6-2, 6-4). The smooth sailing continued for the junior standout as she won her quarterfinal match over the number-one seed from Conn., Beret Remak (6-4, 6-3). In the semifinals, Menezes lost to Cary Gibson of Williams (6-3, 6-4), who came out of nowhere to reach the finals.
"Alicia had an awesome weekend," said Murphy. "She not only dominated the doubles draw with Brittany, but she also played great singles. "It was amazing that she endured the fatigue of so many matches to still play such exceptional tennis in the doubles finals and singles semis."
Overall, Amherst had a great showing at the ITA Championships, and most importantly was able to scope out the competition for the rest of the fall season and for the spring campaign.
"The competition was very tough this year," said Hudson. "Many of the NESCAC schools have brought in talented [first-years], including us. Within three weeks, one of our [first-years, Berckes,] has now become All American by winning the doubles championship."
Even though the fall is not the main season for the women's tennis team, the Jeffs will have a challenging match when they travel to Middlebury College this weekend.
NESCAC Notes
All of the top teams and players of the NESCAC competed at the ITA Championships at MIT. Amy Roche of Middlebury was the singles champion, defeating unseeded Cary Gibson of Williams. Amherst's Berckes arguably played the best of anyone against Roche, splitting sets and losing in a close third-set tie-breaker. The winners of the tournament, Roche in singles, and Menezes and Berckes in doubles have automatically achieved All-American status.