The men’s tennis team continued their strong spring play last week, going undefeated in four matches. The team was building off a victorious spring break trip, during which they put together a 17-match winning streak. Upon their return, the No. 4-ranked team in Div. III was immediately put to the test in their first conference matchup of the season against Wesleyan. The Jeffs rose to the challenge, defeating Wesleyan and the three other non-conference teams that they faced.

In the conference opener against Wesleyan, the Jeffs swept all three doubles points and took four of six singles matches to earn a 7-2 victory. The two matches lost were both outstanding, however, with three-set battles by Moritz Koenig ’11 and Robbie Sorrel ’12. Koenig took the first set of his No. 1 singles contest, but was edged out in second and third set tiebreakers. Sorrel, playing at No. 5 singles, dropped the first set, but recovered to take the second 6-3 before losing his third-set tiebreaker 10-5.

In non-conference play, the Jeffs faced off against MIT, and later in the week, against Vassar and Skidmore. The MIT Engineers were ranked 22nd among Div. III schools in the country, but Amherst shut them out 9-0. Joey Fritz ’14 and Justin Reindel ’14 teamed up to earn an impressive 9-7 win at No. 2 doubles.

The Lord Jeffs earned an 8-1 victory against Vassar, posting especially notable wins in two singles matchups. At No. 5, Tony Sheng ’14 came from behind to win in three sets, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1, and Robby Sorrel made a strong stand in the No. 6 bout, winning 7-5, 4-6, 10-6.

The Jeffs were also victorious in their final match of the week against Skidmore, defeating the Thoroughbreds 7-2. The contest included four three-set victories for the Jeffs, as Mark Kahan ’13, Wes Waterman ’12, Julian Camacho ’13 and Chris Dale ’14 were all pushed to the limit in their singles contests.

With their most recent wins over Vassar and Skidmore, Amherst moved to 21-1 for the spring season. As captain Koenig noted, however, the Jeffs have yet to face their toughest competition.

“We are looking forward to the most challenging part of the season as the core of NESCAC play approaches,” said Koenig. “Next weekend will be one of the biggest of the season when nationally ranked Bowdoin and Williams come to town.”

The good news for the Jeffs is that after battling some injuries for the greater part of the spring season, key players are starting to return. The team hopes to be at full strength by this weekend and looks to gain ground in the rankings against top NESCAC competition.