|
| Zain Ali won in singles play for the Jumbos against Pomona-Pitzer |
CLAREMONT, Calif. – The Tufts men's tennis team took the courts for the second time this spring, but were edged by #9 Pomona-Pitzer, 5-4, Wednesday afternoon. The Jumbos led 2-1 after doubles play, and at one time held a 4-2 advantage through singles play, but weren't able to secure the win.
The Tufts duo of junior Nick Cary and sophomore Ben Battle took the courts in the second doubles spot and were able to knock of the Sagehen's Spencer Simonides and Antony Bello. The other Jumbo win in doubles play came in the third spot, as junior co-captain Rob Jacobson and rookie Rohan Gupte were able to earn an 8-5 win over Kalyan Chadalavada and Sam Crawford.
In the first doubles spot, junior Nik Telkedzhiev and senior co-captain Brian Tan were just edged by the Pomona-Pitzer pair of Jon Kim and Jake Yasgoor, 8-6.
With the 2-1 advantage going into singles play, the Jumbos picked up another win right away when Gupte was able to easily win over Sam Malech in the fifth singles spot, 6-1, 6-0, to give the Jumbos the 3-1 advantage. But, it was then a Sagehen that would win, as Jon Kim was able to top Battle in the second singles spot, 6-4, 6-4. Rookie Zain Ali put another point on the board for Tufts with a win over Thomas Low in the sixth singles position, and helped push the Jumbos advantage to 4-2.
It was Pomona-Pitzer's Yasgoor in the first singles position, who played two close sets with Telkedzhiev that was able to win which switched the momentum of the match. Cary then fell in the fourth singles position in three sets to Josh Kim, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1. The last win for the Sagehens came from Graham Maassen in the third position, as he was able to come back after losing the first set to top Jacobson, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.
With the loss the Jumbos move to 1-1 on the season, while Pomona-Pitzer is now 13-3. The Sagehens were ranked 9th in the most recent ITA national poll, while the Jumbos are ranked 26th. Tufts will be back in action on Saturday as they take on College of the Desert at 5:00 pm. Pomona-Pitzer takes the courts again on Tuesday when they face off with Middlebury.
