MEDFORD, MA (May 1, 2025) -- The No. 3 Tufts University men's tennis squad, seeded No. 1 in the upcoming New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) Tournament, will head to Middlebury College this weekend looking for its first conference crown since 1989 starting Friday morning. The Jumbos will take on No. 8 seed Colby College Friday morning at 9 a.m.
Match Details
Championship Website
Date: Friday, May 2-Sunday, May 4, 2025
Time: 9 AM
Location: Middlebury, Vermont - Middlebury Tennis Courts
Live Coverage:
Live Stats -
Live Video
Against the NESCAC This Season
The Jumbos come into the weekend as the top seed after going 10-0 in the NESCAC this year, winning every conference match by at least three points. Tufts is 19-1 overall on the year, and started the conference slate with a 5-2 win over Bates in Maine. Tufts then earned back-to-back 6-1 wins over Bowdoin College and Middlebury College, before besting Hamilton College 5-2. The Jumbos knocked off Trinity College and Wesleyan University 7-0, before taking down Williams COllege 6-1 on April 13. After two more sweeps for Tufts against Connecticut College and Colby College, the Jumbos finished the regular season with a 6-1 victory over Amherst College.
The Book On The Jumbos (19-1, 10-0 NESCAC)
The third-ranked Jumbos come into the weekend having lost just once all season, a 5-2 loss in California to top-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps back on March 16. Since then, it's been 13-straight wins for Tufts in fairly dominating fashion. The Jumbos feature two ranked singles players in
Vuk Vuksanovic and
Javier Gonzalez, while those two pair together to also form a ranked doubles group.
Vuksanovic has been the top single's player for the Jumbos, winning his last 10 matches and going 19-2 on the season. Gonzalez has won his previous five matches and is 9-3 on the year at the No. 2 spot in the lineup. Senior
Derin Acaroglu continues to be very steady, going 11-5 in singles this season including 6-1 at No. 3. The Jumbos have gotten a very strong season from
Andrej Djokic as he has posted a 16-4 record, and first-year
Stavros Mastrogamvrakis is 14-1 this season including a perfect 13-0 record in dual matches.
Junior
Sacha Maes has stepped into the singles' lineup this spring and gone 7-1 in dual matches including winning his last five outings, while
Lachie Macintosh also has gone 8-8 on the year.
Alex Ganchev battled some injuries earlier in the season, but has won his last three singles' matches en route to a solid 8-3 record.
The Jumbos are looking to get to the NESCAC title match for the fourth time in the last five seasons. Tufts has won three previous NESCAC titles, all coming in the 1980s.
Rest of the Field
If the Jumbos get by Colby Friday, they will battle the winner of No. 4 Williams College and host No. 5 Middlebury. Colby is ranked No. 60 in the nation coming into the weekend, while Middlebury is ranked No. 12 in the country with Williams ranking No. 17 nationally.
On the other side of the bracket, Amherst College is the No. 2 seed while defending NESCAC champion Bowdoinis seeded No. 3 in the tourney. Amherst will take on Wesleyan University, ranked No. 19 in the country, in the opening round while the Polar Bears take on Hamilton College.
In the ITA rankings, Bowdoin College's Mark Kneiss is No. 8 in the nation while Middlebury College's Noah Laber ranks No. 9 nationally. Amherst College's Andreas Sillaste is 30th in the ITA rankings for singles' play, and Nicholas Chen of Williams is 33th as well. Neel Epstein from Middlebury is 34th, Ed Opie of Amherst is 36th and Colby's Jake Cohen is 37th among singles' players in the country.
In doubles, Tufts has the two top pairings based on ITA rankings, but Laber and Thehan Mijemanne from Middlebury are 14th in the country. Sillaste and Opie are 21st as well in the listing, while Shawn Berdia and Chen from the Ephs rank No. 23. Colby's Jason Daly and Cohen also finish the rankings at No. 25.
The No. 1 seed hasn't won the NESCAC title since 2022, but three of the four previous winners prior to 2023 were top seeds. Williams holds the conference lead with 16 all-time tennis titles, while Middlebury is second with 11.
Weekend Schedule
Friday, May 2 - Quarterfinals
Colby vs. Tufts - 9 AM
Middlebury vs. Williams - 9 AM
Wesleyan vs. Amherst - 1 PM
Hamilton vs. Bowdoin - 1 PM
Saturday, May 3 - Semifinals
No. 4/5 Winner vs. No. 1/8 Winner - 11 AM
No. 3/6 Winner vs. No. 2/7 Winner - 11 AM
Sunday, May 4 - Finals
Semifinal Winners - 11 AM
