Ahh … the Spring of 1994. Let us take a moment to reminisce. Nelson Mandela was elected as the first black president of South Africa. Programs across the country were interrupted to bring live footage of O.J. Simpson fleeing the police in his Ford Bronco. The song “The Sign” by Swedish pop-rockers Ace of Base was the number one tune in the country. Current Amherst College first-year Sean Doerfler was preparing to enter elementary school, and perhaps even taking his first swings with a tennis racquet.
More importantly to this article, the Spring of 1994 was the last time the Amherst College men’s tennis team was able to defeat the Williams College men’s tennis team. The last time, that is, until this past Saturday, when the Lord Jeffs shocked the world by upsetting the nationally fourth-ranked Ephs in the first round of the NESCAC Tournament in Middlebury, Vt.
To say that the victory was unexpected would be an understatement, even after taking into account the decade-plus of futility that preceded it. Despite lofty expectations entering the season, the Jeffs had not been at all pleased with their level of play. Although the team had walloped a weak Tufts University squad 8-1 in its last match, they were also coming off of tough losses to Bowdoin and Trinity Colleges, teams they had hoped to beat when the season began. The team came into the playoffs with nothing to lose.
“It was a frustrating season. We knew we had underperformed, we knew we weren’t playing our best tennis,” said senior Jeff Wan. “So we came into this match with something to prove, and we proved it.”
In the first meeting between the Ephs and the Jeffs in early April, Amherst got off to a bad start by losing two of the three doubles matches. And that match was not the exception to the rule; in general, the doubles play has been a weakness for the team throughout most of the season, and as a result they have often had to win four or five of the six singles matches to get a victory.
On Saturday, two of the doubles matches finished early, with each side taking a point. Zach Lerner ’09 teamed with Daniel Kim ’10 to take their match 8-4, while Geoff Schwartz ’08 and first-year Moritz Koenig fell 8-5. The third match was far more closely contested, but seniors Mike Mintz and Tal Avrahami were able to pull out a tight one, 9-7.
The Jeffs were ecstatic to find themselves in the lead after the doubles, but managed not to get ahead of themselves. The team remembered last year’s regular season match when they were able to go up 2-1 but got swept in the singles matches to lose 7-2.
Once again, the Jeffs would find the singles rough going. Mintz, one of the few Jeffs to win his match against the Ephs earlier in the season, fell in straight sets in the number two singles match. Schwartz, gamely playing on an injured ankle, also fell in straight sets, as did Kim. Lerner and Wan, however, got Amherst back in it with spectacular play. Wan was able to win convincingly in the third spot, 7-5, 6-3 and Lerner spanked Daniel Greenberg, Williams’ top player and the third-ranked singles player in Div. III (6-3, 6-0). With five of the six singles matches in the books, the score was all tied up, 4-4.
Amherst’s fate now rested upon the narrow shoulders of first-year Sean Doerfler, winner of precisely one match against NESCAC competition during the regular season. Doerfler had managed to win the first set in a tie-breaker off of his opponent, junior Karol Furmaga. Doerfler had several chances to close out the match in the second set, including match point on his racquet at 5-4. Furmaga was able to fight back, however, and broke to knot the set at five games apiece. At this point, the remainder of match was forced to be moved inside as night began to fall.
The transition from the conventional outdoor hard courts to the slick, rubbery courts of the Cage proved to be a difficult one for Doerfler. Immediately after moving inside, Doerfler had his serve broken again, and he dropped the second set 7-5. To make matters worse, Doerfler fell behind early in the third set, and started to cramp while down a break at 3-4. After using a medical time out, Doerfler was able to trade games, despite resorting to an underhanded serve.
Despite Doerfler’s gritty efforts, Furmaga now had his chance to serve out the match at 5-4. The game went to deuce, and Furmaga began to develop cramps of his own. Furmaga then also had to go to an underhanded serve. He still managed, however, to fight his way to a match point. Exhausted and barely able to lift their racquets, the two players squared off. Doerfler rushed the net, hoping to be able to put away an easy volley, but Furmaga was able to get a short ball right in his forehand wheelhouse.
“Right then, I thought the match and the meet were over because his opponent had a sitting ball to his strong shot,” explained Wan. Doerfler miraculously guessed right and was able to get his racquet on a lunging volley to win the point. He went on to take the game, and rode the momentum to a 7-1 victory in the third set tiebreaker. The final score was 7-6, 5-7, 7-6 Doerfler over Furmaga and 5-4 Amherst over Williams. It was truly a match worthy of one of the greatest rivalries in college sports.
“I’ve never seen a match so close before,” said Wan. “It really did come down to a battle of wills. Nobody had anything left in the tank.”
“Watching Doerfler win match point to help us end the fourteen-year draught against Williams is an image that will be indelibly forged in my mind,” added Avrahami.
Unfortunately, the Jeffs fell the next day to perennial NESCAC powerhouse Middlebury College, 6-2. The loss ended Amherst’s season, as they fell just short of a selection to the NCAA Tournament. However, despite the disappoint of the season coming to an end, the team will have something that they can treasure forever: a win over Williams.
“Despite the end result, we really did hang tough with Middlebury down to the wire in the NESCAC tournament,” said Avrahami. “I am confident that the program is moving in the right direction and that future success is guaranteed.” Hopefully that means we won’t have to wait until 2022 for the next Amherst victory over the Ephs.