MIDDLETOWN, CT (May 3, 2024) -- The No. 9 Tufts University men's tennis team, seeded No. 3 in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Tournament, opened action in the postseason with a quick 5-0 win over sixth-seed Wesleyan University in action from John Wood Memorial Courts on the campus of Wesleyan University.
With the victory, Tufts (15-5) will take on second-seed Williams College after the Ephs knocked off Colby College Friday morning 5-0. Tufts and Williams will meet Saturday morning at 9 a.m. on the campus of Amherst College in Amherst, MA.
The win for the Jumbos was their 12th straight over Division III competition, while the Jumbos overall win streak reached 10 matches with the victory. Tufts took the early match lead in doubles as the No. 3 pairing of
Sacha Maes and
Corey Marley rolled to an 8-4 win over Chase Kasday and Harry Portnoy. The lead doubled for the Jumbos at No. 1, as sophomore
Alex Ganchev teamed up with junior
Vuk Vuksanovic to best JT Bilski and Ben Mitchell, 8-4.
The most competitive match of doubles came at the No. 2 position, as
Derin Acaroglu and
Lachie Macintosh were pushed to a tiebreak by Harry Collomb and Max Lustgarten. Wesleyan had a chance to clinch the match at 7-6, but the Tufts duo fought back to send the match to a deciding tiebreak, where Tufts scored the final five points to claim a 7-1 victory to help the Jumbos sweep doubles.
In singles action, Macintosh made the score 4-0 in favor of the Jumbos with an emphatic 6-3, 6-0 win over Brett Keeling at No. 3. In the opening set, Macintosh dropped the first two games but roared back to win four straight route to the opening set win. In the second set, Macintosh broke his opponent three times while holding serve in claiming the fourth point of the match for the Jumbos.
The deciding point for Tufts came at No. 2 singles, as sophomore
Javier Gonzalez tallied a 6-1, 6-3 victory to send the Jumbos to the NESCAC semifinals. In the first set, both players held serve in the first two games, but Gonzalez won five straight games to take control. The second frame played out similar to the first, as the two players split the first two games before a run by Gonzalez put him in control.
By rule, the rest of the singles' matches were abandoned as the team match in tournament play is played to decision. Tufts was ahead at No. 6 singles as well, as
Garv Bahl was one game away from the win while Acaroglu and Max Litton split their two sets at No. 2 singles. Ganchev and Lustgarten also were halted in a first-set tiebreak.
On the other side of the bracket, top-seed Middlebury breezed past Trinity College 5-0 while fourth-seed Bowdoin College bested Amherst 5-1. Bowdoin and Middlebury will play Saturday at 9 a.m. as well at Amherst.
--JUMBOS--
