The squad came into last Saturday's match against Williams hoping to undo over a decade of frustrating losses to the Ephs. Several wrenches were thrown into their plan, however, as first-year sensation Tristan Biesecker was unable to play due to an injured elbow. Biesecker fell and suffered the injury in the match against Bates College and is probably going to miss the remainder of the season.
Cold weather forced Amherst to hold the Williams match indoors at Mt. Holyoke College, denying the Jeffs a true home-court advantage. Despite unfavorable conditions, the Jeffs were optimistic going into the match and their optimism only grew after a fantastic performance in doubles. Tal Avrahami '08 and Zach Lerner '09 teamed up to win the top doubles slot, overcoming their opponents 8-6. After co-captain Karti Subramanian '07 and Mike Mintz '08 fell just short in a back-and-forth match, juniors Geoff Schwartz and Jeff Wan pulled out an extremely close match, winning the set in a tiebreaker to give the Jeffs a 2-1 edge after the doubles play.
The statistics looked good for the Jeffs as the squad had not yet lost a contest when they were winning going into the singles matches. The singles, however, went disastrously for Amherst, as sixth-ranked Williams swept every single match, with Mintz being the only Jeff able to take a set from his opponent. With the 7-2 loss, the Jeffs dropped to 8-2 on the season.
Yesterday, the team had another chance to move up in the conference standings, taking on Trinity College, who is currently ranked 11th in the nation. Despite another big performance from Wan and Schwartz, the Jeffs lost the doubles slate 2-1 on two painfully close matches. Lerner and Avrahami lost their match in a tiebreaker and Subramanian and Mintz were broken in the last game of the set to lose 9-7. Although the Jeffs were able to bounce back and win two singles matches, they could not help but feel as if they were excruciatingly close to the upset, as three of the matches they lost were decided in tight third sets.
After coming out strong and winning the first set, Lerner went flat and lost the next two to drop the first singles position. Schwartz also won his first set, only to fall in the next two, each by only a single break. In the sixth singles position senior co-captain Jeff Lawrence lost his first set. He then rallied to win the second before capitulating in the third. In contrast, both Wan and Subramanian won their matches in straight sets. The score will go down as a 6-3 victory for the Bantams and a "what-could-have-been" for the Jeffs.
"As is our custom we fell behind after losing two close doubles positions," said Avrahami. "The singles play was also very competetive and close, but in the end we just didn't come up with enough big shots to take the match."
Amherst will be back in action next weekend with an away match at conference rival Colby College on Saturday and a home match against New York University on Sunday.
"This is obviously a very disappointing loss for us," said Avrahami. "But hopefully we can build something positive heading into our next matches and ultimately into the NESCAC Tournament."
NESCAC Notes
Middlebury College and Williams are both undefeated in NESCAC play and will face each other on April 11 at Middlebury. Middlebury has only dropped one match during the fall, including play against Div. I opponents. In NESCAC matches, the Panthers have not dropped a single individual match.