Men
On Saturday, 19th-ranked Amherst took on 21st-ranked Bates in a battle between two competitive NESCAC teams. The match featured some excellent tennis with Amherst coming out victorious in the end, 5-4.
The Jeffs were able to snag two of the three doubles matches to start the day off strong. In the No. 2 doubles spot, Mark Kahan ’13 and Michael Solimano ’16 defeated Timmy Berg and Pierre Planche of Bates 8-5, while the No. 3 doubles team, Andrew Yaraghi ’16 and Ben Fife ’16, easily overpowered Henry Lee and Ben Bogard by a commanding score of 8-1. Amherst’s first doubles team, Joey Fritz ’14 and Aaron Revzin ’16, did not experience the same success as they fell 8-5 to Rob Crampton and Matt Bettles.
Still, Amherst entered the singles matches with a 2-1 lead and only needed to notch three wins out of the six potential matches. In the sixth spot, Justin Reindel ’14 had an effortless win over Eric Ruta, routing his Bates’ opponent 6-1 6-0. Chris Dale ’14 also made quick work of his opponent in the fifth spot, beating Henry Lee 6-4, 6-0.
Now with a score of 4-1, Amherst only needed one more “W” to secure the victory. In the end, it would come from senior captain Mark Kahan as he downed Matt Bettles 6-3, 6-2.
Even though the match was already decided, the unfinished singles matches remained extremely competitive. In the first singles spot, Fritz and Crampton were evenly matched as they split the first two sets (4-6, 6-4) and had to settle the match with a tiebreaker where Fritz lost 9-11. In the fourth singles spot, Ben Fife ’16 also lost in a deciding tiebreaker 7-10 after he won the first set 7-6 but couldn’t figure out his opponent, Pierre Planche, in the second set, dropping it 6-0. Andrew Yaraghi ’16 also lost for Amherst in the third singles spot 6-4, 6-3.
This win against Bates helped Amherst improve to 2-0 in the NESCAC and 16-7 overall on the season. The team is looking to improve its low ranking to try and qualify for the national tournament. As Revzin put it, “If we lost this match, it would have been nearly impossible for us to qualify for the playoffs, so that was a good win to have.”
On Sunday, Amherst traveled to play 25th ranked Skidmore where they had a decisive 8-1 win. Andrew Scheiner ’15 was the only Jeff to fall as he lost a competitive match 4-6, 6-3, 11-9 to Jonah Epstein in the No. 5 singles spot.
The Jeffs' next home match in on Sunday, April 14 against Williams, who is currently ranked fifth in the nation.
Women
The top-ranked Lady Jeffs spent their weekend playing at Wellesley College’s Nor’Easter Bowl where they played fellow NESCAC teams, Bates and Trinity, in addition to Skidmore. Amherst encountered no problems against these teams as it coasted to three dominating 9-0 victories.
The tournament began on Friday with a match against 29th ranked Bates. In both the first and sixth single matches, the Bates’ players were unable to net a single game as Jordan Brewer ’14 and Gabby Devlin ’14 both defeated their opponents 6-0, 6-0. The combination of Brewer and Devlin proved to be just as forceful as a No. 1 doubles team, winning their match 8-0 over Ashley Brunk and Elena Mandzuhokva. The rest of the team also had little trouble with their opponents as they all cruised to easy straight set wins in singles and three wins in doubles.
On Saturday, Amherst experienced similar success as it took on 24th ranked NESCAC team Trinity. The singles all cruised to straight set victories again, and the doubles’ teams won their matches with ease as well. Notable on the day, No. 1 singles player, Brewer, remained perfect as she defeated Melita Ferjanic 6-0 6-0.
On Sunday, Amherst faced 20th ranked Skidmore in the championship. With an unexpected scratch from Jen Newman ’14 in the second singles spot, the Jeffs had to adjust their lineup but were still victorious, completing their trifecta of 9-0 wins. This match was slightly more competitive compared to the rest of the weekend as first singles’ player Brewer dropped her first games of the tournament, beating Nataly Mendoz 6-0, 6-2.
Replacing Newman in the second singles spot, first-year Sue Ghosh was able to step up to the plate and finish off her opponent, Lee Ford, in a tiebreak, winning the match 6-4, 3-6, 10-4. In another competitive match, Zoe Pangalos ’14 started off down a set in the fourth singles spot but she came back to win 2-6, 6-1, 6-0. The rest of the Jeffs faced little to no difficulties in handling their Trinity opponents as they defended their tournament title.
The three victories this weekend improved Amherst’s record to 10-1 on the season and 3-0 in the NESCAC. Up next for the women are three NESCAC matches, Conn. College (away on Thursday), Tufts (away on Monday) and Bates (home on Wednesday).
