NEW LONDON, Conn. – The No. 17 Tufts men's tennis team split their squad on Thursday afternoon, taking on both Connecticut College and Coast Guard. The Jumbos picked up two wins, winning both matches by an identical 8-1 score.
With the win the Jumbos are now 8-2 on the season, and have won all three matches they have played back in New England after their spring break trip. With the loss Connecticut College falls to 3-7 on the season. Coast Guard is now 6-3 on the year.
Against Connecticut College the Jumbos jumped out to an early lead, winning all three doubles matches. Sophomore Griffin Brockman and senior Nik Telkedzhiev took the courts at No. 1 doubles and topped the pair of Jonathan Kraiger and Ben Sachs, 8-6. At No. 2 doubles, senior tri-captain Rob Jacobson and freshman Ross Kamin beat Daniel Maffa and Charlie Williams by an 8-5 margin. Senior tri-captain Roy Peleg and sophomore Danny Coran faced off with James Wright II and Will Cannon at No. 3 doubles and earned an 8-4 win over their Camel opponents.
In singles play the Jumbos were able to pick up wins in all but one position. Telkedzhiev faced off with Kraiger at No. 1 singles and earned a 7-5, 7-6 win. At No. 2 singles Jacobson downed Williams, 6-1, 6-3. Similarly at No. 3 singles, Coran had little trouble with his Camel opponent, picking up a 6-2, 6-4 win over Maffa.
Sophomore Garrett Weinstein played the closest match of the contest at No. 4 singles, dropping the first set but coming back to earn a 4-6, 6-2, (10-8) win over Cannon. The last win for the Jumbos came at No. 6 singles, as Kamin earned a 7-6, 6-4 win over Ethan Hecker.
The lone set back for the Jumbos against the Camels came at No. 5 singles, as Sachs was able to top Jumbo sophomore Justin Brogan who retired in the middle of the first set.
Against Coast Guard the Jumbos also won by an 8-1 score. Again, after doubles play the Jumbos had a 3-0 lead as they won in all three doubles positions. At No. 1 doubles, senior tri-captain Nick Cary and sophomore Rohan Gupte picked up an 8-5 win over Mark Guentert and Weston Fortna. Senior Jay Glickman and sophomore Zain Ali picked up a win at No. 2 doubles, topping Tom Hackett and Ben Errington, 8-2. The last win came from junior Kevin Kelly and classmate Austin Bendetson at No. 3 doubles as they beat Michael Melampy and Jack Phillips, 8-5.
In singles play the Jumbos won in five of six positions as well, as the lone loss came at No. 6 singles when freshman Ethan Chen retired. At No. 1 singles Glickman had little trouble with Guentert, earning a 6-0, 6-3 win. Gupte faced off with Hackett at No. 2 singles and played a closer match, but earned a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 win. At No. 3 singles Ali allowed Robert Renfrow to win just one game, picking up the 6-0, 6-1 win.
Cary faced off with Fortna at No. 4 singles and earned a 6-3, 6-3 win. The last Jumbo win came at the No. 5 singles position, as Kelly topped Melampy, 7-6, 6-2.
The Jumbos will be back in action this weekend as they travel to Wesleyan on Saturday for a 1 pm match with the Cardinals and then host Middlebury on Sunday for a 1 pm face-off with the Panthers in their home opener.
