NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Tufts University men's tennis team swept a double-header on their spring season opening day Saturday including a 9-0 conference win at Connecticut College.
The Jumbos split their squad and first posted a 6-3 win against Babson College. The shutout of the Camels went final soon after that to wrap up the perfect day.
Seniors Nathan Niemiec and Zach Shaff played as the #1 doubles team at Connecticut College and won 8-3. Tufts also earned 8-5 doubles wins from the second tandem of juniors Niko Hereford and Owen Bartok, as well as from their third pair of sophomore Dylan Glickman with senior Ben Biswas.
Five of the six Tufts singles wins were in straight sets. Freshman Matthew Cashin had a strong spring debut with a 6-1, 6-1 sixth-singles victory over Conn's Michael Sarazen. Bartok added a singles victory in which he lost only four games (6-3, 6-1) in the fourth match. Biswas was also efficient in winning third singles 6-1, 6-4. The other Jumbo straight-setters went to freshman #1 Rishabh Sharda (6-3, 6-3) and sophomore Akash Verma in the fifth position (6-2, 7-5).
Niemiec came back from down a set to win his #2 singles match 5-7, 7-6 (3), 10-7 against Camel Guillermo Rincon.
Tufts, ranked #18 nationally, will face Swarthmore in Costa Mesa, California next Saturday to start their spring break trip. The Camels are hosting Union College on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 pm.
