Junior Jeff Wan and sophomore Zach Lerner represented the Jeffs in the top singles flight, with Wan advancing to the quarterfinals. After shellacking his first-round opponent, Zack Sher of Brandeis University, 6-1, 6-4, Wan ran into the eventual champion Brian Brown of Colby College. Wan played a tight match, losing 6-3, 7-6 (7-5). Lerner also had the misfortune of running into one of the tournament's stronger players in an early round, falling to eventual finalist Alex Caughron of Bowdoin College in his first match.
The 'B' flight went significantly better for the Jeffs, as Lawrence was able to plow his way through three opponents before eventually losing to Chris Mason of Middlebury College in the final. "I've never seen Jeff play at such a high level, so it's good to see him find his rhythm at the end of the fall," said Wan. Karti Subramanian '07 also played in the 'B' flight, but did not fare quite as well, losing a tough match to Max Berger of Bates in the first round.
While the veterans were playing the upper singles flights, the team allowed its young guns to take a shot at the 'C' and 'D' flights. First-year Daniel Gonzalez advanced to the quarterfinals of the 'C' singles flight and classmate Ben Krause made it all the way to the final of the 'D' flight, losing to a tough Zach Fenno of Bates.
"Since this was the last tournament of the fall, we are very happy the entire team ended on a good note," said Wan. "Players in the 'A,' 'B' and 'D' flights lost to the eventual champion of their brackets. Hopefully our team keeps this momentum."
The team will now have a long break before beginning the far more important spring section of the schedule. Rumor has it that the team is deciding between California and South Carolina for a Spring Break trip, and then they will begin competing against the NESCAC, which once again promises to being one of the strongest conferences in the country.
NESCAC Notes
It's hard to gather much from the limited fall schedule, but if the past is any indication, the NESCAC will be an extremely strong tennis conference again this year, with multiple nationally ranked teams and national championship contenders.
After falling to Emory University in the finals of the NCAA Div. III Tournament last year, Middlebury will start the season ranked second in the country. Williams College is not far behind, ranked fourth in the nation, while Trinity College rounds out the NESCAC teams top 10. The Jeffs are next in the conference pecking order, ranked 16th in the country, while Bowdoin, Bates and Colby are all also ranked in the national top 30.