Men’s tennis topped by Amherst College

As freshman Jeremy Dubin walked off the court, he thought his team was down 3-1.

He was mistaken.

Instead, Dubin’s 6-2, 6-3 victory at sixth singles tied Hopkins and Amherst at three matches apiece.

Following his win, Dubin went to support his teammate, junior Erik Lim. After losing the first set 6-1, Lim was leading the second set 5-4 when Dubin witnessed a key shot.

“I remember him hitting this blistering backhand down the line at a crucial moment,” Dubin said. “He lost his match, but at this moment, the whole team was behind him, and everyone was going crazy because of the extraordinary shot he hit.”

After Lim’s 1-6, 6-4, 4-6 loss gave Amherst a 4-3 advantage, attention turned to the top singles match, where junior Ben Hwang was filling in for an injured junior Tanner Brown.

The first key moment came with the match tied at 5-5.

“In the first set, my opponent and I both held our serves the whole time,” Hwang said. “At 5-5, he was serving 15-40, meaning I had two break points to go up 6-5 and serve out the set. I ended up blowing that and got broken with him up 6-5, giving him the first set 7-5.”

Later in the second set, Hwang again squandered a 40-15 opportunity.

“I was up 5-3, again 15-40 with two chances to break to win the second set 6-3,” Hwang said. “But he managed to hold his serve. . .It sucks, but that’s what tennis really comes down to: a couple of points here and there make all the difference.”

After the two hour and 40 minute match, Hwang had three sweat-drenched t-shirts and two cramping quads. He would go on to lose the match 5-7, 6-4, 1-6, clinching the victory for Amherst.

Earlier in the Oct. 12 matchup, freshman Emerson Walsh and Mike Buxbaum defeated Amherst’s top doubles team 8-6, accounting for one of the four Hopkins victories of the day.

The duo entered play Saturday fresh off of a fifth place finish at the National Small College Championship the day before. The pair’s first match in the national tournament, hosted in Fort Myers, Fla., was against the top seed. After losing the first set 6-3, they fought back in the second set, taking the top seed to a tiebreaker.

According to Head Coach Chuck Willenborg, three failed set points prevented the doubles team from winning the second set. He remembers one botched point in particular.

“We hit a good return and came in and missed a volley wide,” Willenborg said. “They make that volley and we’re in the third set, which is good, we got ourselves in a position to win the set against a tough seed.”

Walsh applauded his opponents but acknowledged that he and his partner were not happy with the result.

“We were pretty disappointed because we knew we had our chances and could have won it,” Walsh said. “After that we just relaxed and had a great finish to the tournament.”

After dropping the first match 3-6, 6-7 (6), the duo dropped only two games in its first match in the back draw, winning 6-2, 6-0 and advancing into the fifth place match. There, the pair won 6-3, 6-3 and claimed fifth place.

Hwang, who just missed qualifying for the tournament after losing in the championship round of the ITA Singles tournament, lauded the freshman for their accomplishment.

“They really stepped up and placed fifth at the [National Small College Championship], which basically says they’re the number five ranked doubles team in the nation,” Hwang said.

Dubin echoed Hwang’s thoughts.

“I thought it was a huge accomplishment that two freshmen were able to accomplish so much so early in their college careers,” Dubin said.

Their coach had similar praise for the two young players.

“It’s freshman year and they’re already doing some great things,” Willenborg said.

Though the team ended the first half of its season with a loss, Willenborg is optimistic that both the freshmen and the rest of the team can achieve great things come Feb. 22, when the they begin the spring portion of their season.

“If we play well, I think we’re one of the favorites in the championship,” Willenborg said. “We’re good. We’re as good as anybody out there.”

The match against Amherst ended the fall portion of the Blue Jays season. They will look forward to training hard and often throughout the winter in preparation for the demanding spring season ahead of them. Despite the tough loss this weekend, the boys seem optimistic heading into the winter and look forward to not only a great season, but a run at another championship.