The women’s tennis team traveled to Columbia Univ. this past weekend to begin their fall season. Over the course of the three-day tournament, the Jeffs faced some tough Division I competitors including host Columbia, Penn, and St. John’s.
In the doubles matches on Day 1, Amherst played Penn, where dynamic duo Jordan Brewer ’14 and Gabby Devlin ’14 dropped their match 8-4 after going undefeated as a pair in the 2012-2013 Spring season. Fellow seniors, Jen Newman and Zoe Pangalos, also lost their match, falling 8-5.
Sue Ghosh ’16 and Safi Aly ’15 were able to snag an 8-3 win, however, against their opponents, Alex Ion and Brigitte Desnoes.
In the singles play on Day 1, Amherst did not have much luck against Columbia either. The Lions proved to be too dominant, winning eleven out of the twelve total matches. Sarah Monteagudo ’16 was able to pull out a victory for the Jeffs in the sixth doubles spot against Amy Li.
Notably, Ghosh and Newman also went the distance and competed in third set tiebreaks. Sadly, both of them fell short: Ghosh’s score in the third spot was 6-4, 1-6, 10-4, while Newman’s score in the fourth spot was 2-6, 6-4, 10-4.
Despite not getting the victory, the Jeffs were satisfied with their level of play. As Ghosh put it, “Even though we were up against tough opponents, our team competed at a very high level. It was a weekend filled with thrilling matches and quality teams”.
On Day 2, Amherst played Columbia in doubles, but faced similar results as Day 1, losing all three matches. In the number one spot, Brewer and Devlin had a highly competitive match, but could not come away with the victory, falling 8-6.
The Jeffs encountered much more success later on Day 2 in their singles matches against St. Johns, coming away with eight wins out of the total twelve matches. First-year Amanda Zalameda made her collegiate debut in the sixth spot, winning her match comfortably 6-2, 6-2. Ghosh also won her match fairly easily in the third spot, 6-1, 6-1.
Amherst had two other victories come from Brewer and Devlin in the one and two spots respectively. Both went to a third set tiebreak: Brewer with a score of 4-6, 7-5, 10-8 and Devlin with a score of 6-4, 1-6, 10-3.
On the third and final day, Amherst faced St. Johns in doubles where they swept the Red Storm, winning all three matches. Brewer and Devlin, Newman and Pangalos, Aly and Ghosh all were able to come away with decisive victories.
In the singles matches, the Jeffs were unable to top Penn, losing all except the third singles match played by Newman.
Newman fought a hard three set battle and was able to earn the “W”, 6-1, 3-6, 10-5.
When asked to reflect upon the weekend, Ghosh commented, “It was really nice to play people outside our division and to go against players who we do not normally compete against. I am really looking forward to the rest of the season, and this tournament was most definitely a great start.”
Next up for the Jeffs is the ITA Tournament at Williams the weekend of Sept. 27. After coming off an excellent 2012-2013 season, the Jeffs look to establish themselves as a top-ranked team again this fall.
