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Brian Tan clinched the victory with his #6 singles win
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MEDFORD - In one of their strongest performances of the season, the Tufts men's tennis team leveled NESCAC foe Trinity College, 8-1, on Tuesday afternoon. The Jumbos and Bantams are vying for spots in the upcoming six-team NESCAC Championship.
Trinity, which had been among the national top 30 until recently, managed only a tie-break 9-8 (3) victory in third doubles among the nine matches played between the teams. Otherwise, Tufts, which was #10 in the recent Northeast rankings, won convincingly over #11 in the Northeast Trinity.
The Jumbo #2 doubles pair of freshman Nick Telkedzhiev (Plovdiv, Bulgaria) and senior tri-captain Mark Westerfield (Menlo Park, CA) were first off the court with an 8-5 victory. Senior Ben Barad (San Rafael, CA) and freshman Rob Jacobson (Winnetka, IL) were strong 8-3 winners in #1 doubles. With Trinity's Ford Traff and David Myers winning third doubles, Tufts took a 2-1 lead into singles.
Barad set the tone with a 7-5, 6-3 victory in second singles to put Tufts up 3-1. Telkedzhiev followed with a 6-2, 6-2 final at #1 for a 4-1 Tufts margin. Sophomore Brian Tan (Orinda, CA) eliminated any drama, clinching the match with his 6-3, 6-2 win at #6.
Tufts finished out a singles sweep with freshman Jay Glickman's (Chappaqua, NY) two-set victory at #3 and super tie-breaker wins at #4 and #5 by senior tri-captain Andrew Lutz (Baltimore, MD) and Jacobson, respectively.
Head coach Jaime Kenney's Jumbos improved to 8-4 overall and 2-3 in the league. They moved ahead of Trinity (6-7, 1-4) in the NESCAC standings with the win.
Tufts hosts non-league rival MIT on Friday at 4 pm. Trinity plays at Amherst on Saturday at 11 am.
Match results
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