The No. 5-ranked Amherst men’s tennis team returned to action this weekend with impressive matching 7-2 victories over No. 23 Tufts on Saturday and No. 3 Washington University in St. Louis on Sunday. These dominant performances followed a 7-2 victory over Colby on Sunday, March 29 after a tough loss to Division I Harvard on Saturday, March 28. Both matches this weekend were scheduled to take place on campus, but were moved to alternate sites due to rain. Despite the location, the Jeffs still took care of business, improving to 12-4 (2-0 in the NESCAC) at about the midpoint of the regular season.
Amherst came into this weekend with high aspirations, taking on a pair of equally hungry top 25 opponents. Tufts came into this weekend sporting a 3-2 record which included a close 5-4 loss to Pomona-Pitzer on their spring break trip to California. Amherst’s loss to the same opponent 6-3, which indicates that the Jumbos are talented. Nonetheless, the Jeffs squashed the Jumbos behind very solid singles play. Amherst took two out of three doubles matches, with No. 13-ranked juniors Aaron Revzin and Michael Solimano winning easily 8-3 at No. 1 doubles.
On the No. 2 court Andrew Yaraghi ’16 and Anton Zykov ’17 pulled out a close one, winning 9-7. Senior Jon Cypers and senior co-captain Andrew Scheiner lost a hard-fought match at the No. 3 spot, which put the Jeffs up 2-1 heading into singles.
Amherst used their momentum from doubles to overpower the Jumbos in singles. The Jeffs took five out of six in singles, with four of the winning matches for the Jeffs ending in straight sets. Yaraghi locked down the No. 1 spot, winning 6-2, 6-2, while Zykov won by the identical score at No. 3 singles. No. 40 ranked Aaron Revzin won 6-3, 6-1 at No. 4, while senior co-captain Sean Rodriguez won 6-4, 6-2 at No. 6. Solimano used his lethal one-handed background to secure a come-from-behind 5-7, 6-1, 10-3 victory. Zain Ali got the sole singles point for the Jumbos against sophomore Andrew Arnaboldi at No. 5 singles.
The real test of talent came on Sunday as No. 3 Washington University in St. Louis came to town for a matchup of two of the perennial powerhouses in Division III tennis. The Jeffs answered the call, handily defeating Washington University by a 7-2 margin at Hampshire College on Sunday. Solimano and Revzin (8-6), and Yaraghi and Zykov (8-5) won again, while Cypers and Scheiner dropped a nail-biting 9-8 (7-3) defeat. On courts one through five with Yaraghi, Solimano, Zykov, Revzin and Arnaboldi winning in straight sets. Arnaboldi was handed a tough 6-3, 2-6, 3-10 loss, although the match was already decided at that point. T he Jeffs’ dominance shows the potential of this well-rounded squad. Washington University has been very competitive in recent years and is expected to be a top competitor for the championship.
This undoubtedly helped to boost Amherst’s confidence as they head into this weekends’ important and challenging matches.
“This weekend was a big step for us as a team. Everyone competed at a very high level, and we’ll need to keep working hard to be able to do so for the remainder of the season,” Solimano said. “Washington University is a very strong team from top to bottom so we feel great that we competed with them so well at all positions.”
The Jeffs’ home stand will be interrupted by a trip back to Boston in which Amherst will take on MIT on Thursday, April 9 at 4 p.m. They will be back home on Saturday and Sunday with NESCAC matches against No. 8 Bowdoin at 1 p.m. and No. 22 Trinity (Conn.) at 11 a.m.
Hopefully, the Jeffs will be able to play on their home courts this time. Nonetheless, no matter the courts or the circumstances, the Jeffs look to build on their success this weekend.
“This weekend is going to be another tough test. MIT, Trinity and Bowdoin are all very strong this year so we’ll need to keep competing well as a team to put ourselves in good positions during those matches,” Solimano said.
