No. 16 Women’s Tennis Drops Close One to No. 14 Amherst

Written by Ben Lable, Tufts Athletics Communications Student Intern

MEDFORD, MA (March 29, 2026) After taking care of business yesterday at Hamilton, the No. 16 Tufts women's tennis team returned home to Medford to take on the No. 14 Amherst Mammoths on the Vouté Tennis Courts. Amherst entered the day with a 5-3 record, while Tufts held an 8-1 mark on the season, as both teams looked to pick up a win against a top New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) opponent.

Last year, it was Amherst that knocked Tufts out of the NESCAC Championships in the quarterfinals, defeating the Jumbos 4–3. The Bo's were looking to finally take down the Mammoths, who have won the last five contests between the two highly ranked squads.

At No. 3 doubles, Melanie Woodbury and Claudia Grove took care of Greta Stechschulte and Sophie Diop 6-3 in 34 minutes to give the Bo's the early edge in doubles.

Finding themselves down 4-1 at No. 1 doubles, Lucy Mitchell and Rachel Cranley fought back to tie the match at 4-4 against Katja Jules Viberg and Cody Huang. At 4-4, Jules Viberg double-faulted four straight times, setting up Mitchell to serve for the match. Mitchell was able to close it out to win the match 6-4 and secure a crucial doubles point for the team. Last to finish were Ellie Gershaw and Ryan Wuhrman, playing No. 2 doubles versus Tina She and Karolina Dobiecka. Down 5-4, they were able to come back and win 7-5 to sweep the doubles point for the Jumbos.

Cranley was the first Jumbo to finish at No. 2 singles, beating Diop swiftly 6-2, 6-3. Mitchell finished shortly after, losing a tight one to She at No. 1 singles. After losing the first set in a tiebreak, she was broken early in the second set, which she lost 6-4.

Gershaw also found herself in a tight match with Stechschulte at No. 4 singles. She lost the first set 7-6 (7-5) before losing the second set 6-3. Athena Li was able to give Tufts a 3-2 match lead, as she beat Sameera Talwar 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 in straight sets at No. 5 singles.

Kyra McCandless jumped out to an early lead over Rachel Roth at No. 6 singles, beating her 6-1. McCandless lost the next set 6-2. In the third set, she found herself down 5-0 before battling it back to 5-3. Roth was able to serve it out and win 6-3 to tie the match at 3-3.

All of it came down to Woodbury and Huang in a third set at No. 3 singles. Woodbury won the first set 6-2, and Huang took the second 7-5. In the final set, Woodbury had three match points but wasn't able to seal the deal, giving Huang a 7-5 win.

Next week, the Bo's will have to travel for a pair of NESCAC battles in Connecticut. On Friday, they will take on the Camels of Connecticut College in New London, and on Saturday, they will face the No. 4 Wesleyan Cardinals in Middletown. Tufts will look to bounce back after their first NESCAC loss of the season today.

ORDER OF FINISH

Singles: 3,1,2

Doubles: 2,1,4,5,6,3

--JUMBOS--

Players Mentioned

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