Because the Dartmouth competition offered three singles and three doubles matches for each player, regardless of the result of each, Head Coach Chris Garner said that the tournament allowed “players to be in a competitive field where they [could] gain valuable experience.”
Despite this tournament being the first testing ground for a number of first-years, the Jeffs performed solidly. Amherst’s doubles play was especially strong—every Amherst pair reached the semifinals. In addition, in a largely irrelevant but nonetheless sweet side plot, the Jeffs were able to trounce their archrivals, the Williams College Ephs. First-year Wesley Waterman overpowered Williams’ Kenneth Taubenslag (6-3, 6-1) in his second match of singles play, and Alex Gumport defeated another Eph, Jeffrey Fieber (6-3, 6-1), in his last singles match of the weekend.
“Dartmouth was my first tournament so it really opened my eyes to what Div. III tennis would be like,” said rookie Austin Chafetz ’12. “I had a great time competing there with the other guys on the tennis team, and there were so many intense matches.” Chafetz added, “I definitely enjoyed beating Williams’ No. 1 and No. 2 singles players in doubles with my doubles partner [sophomore transfer] Priit Gross.”
In addition to his and Chafetz’s impressive doubles victory, Gross posted wins in his first two singles matches. Gross easily bypassed the first two rounds of singles play to reach the finals of the B-flight. Although he played competitively, he was defeated by the eventual champion, Dartmouth College’s Ari Grayer (6-3, 6-2). “My performance in the finals against … Grayer was a disappointment,” said Gross. “Inconsistency and strategical mistakes really cost me the match.”
Other singles standouts for the Jeffs were Robby Sorrel ’12, who took third place in his singles flight, and Waterman, who won the consolation draw of his flight.
The Jeffs have an action-packed schedule ahead of them. Amherst will take half of the team to Bates College for the Wallach Invitational next weekend, before playing Little Three rival Wesleyan University on Monday. The rest of the team will take to the road to compete against nationally-ranked Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon and Kenyon Universities.
And while the fall schedule does not allow the entire team to compete together very often, strong team unity and spirit have already been established. “The captains have been exceptionally helpful in helping the newcomers to adjust to the demands of college tennis and the challenging academics,” said an appreciative Gross. “We spend a lot of time together off the court.”