All it took was a name in a hat to seal the fate of the men's tennis team at the UAA championships in Waltham this weekend.A random drawing left the Judges facing No. 1-seeded powerhouse Emory University in the first round of the championships Friday. The Eagles easily dispatched the Judges 6-1 on their way to winning the UAA championship.

Brandeis bounced back to win its next two matches and secure a fifth-place finish with a 4-3 consolation victory over Carnegie Mellon University on Saturday and a 5-2 win over Case Western Reserve University on Sunday.

"I couldn't have asked for a better end to the season," Sam Jonas '07 said. "It'd be unrealistic to beat a team like Emory at this point, but we're really moving in the right direction."

Jonas was perfect in three matches through the weekend at the No. 1 singles spot to lead the Judges. He also won two of three matches at the No. 1 doubles spot with partner Jordan Bieber '07. Ariel Burman '08 and Adam Sher '07 each won two singles matches in the No. 4 and No. 5 spots respectively, as the Judges finished the week 10-9.

"[Jonas] put up another inspiring performance against the No. 1 player at a power program," Rob Friedman '06 said. "If someone were to claim that [last year's win over Odgers] was a fluke, he silenced them by beating him again."

Brandeis played like a team with the home-court advantage in its final consolation match against Case Western. Despite Bieber and Mike Vulfovich '07 capping off a winless weekend at the No. 2 and No. 3 singles spots, the Judges won three doubles matches.

Brandeis struggled in its first consolation match against the Spartans on Saturday. Jonas again took the No. 1 singles spot, but the team lost the doubles point after losses at the No. 2 and No. 3 spots. Burman and Sher both won in back-to-back sets with Sher pulling out a nail-biting victory against Spartan sophomore Jordan Koslosky in three sets, two of which went to tiebreakers.

"The finish was great, especially with all the injuries we've had," Jonas said. "We just really wanted to go out there and win."

But the team's luck of the draw left them facing No. 1 Emory on the first day of the tournament for the second year in a row.

Jonas was the only Brandeis player to win a match against the Eagles, beating Emory senior Jeff Odgers at the No. 1 singles spot. It was a repeat performance for Jonas: Odgers fell to Jonas at last year's UAA championships as well.

Jonas topped the No. 16 ranked player in three sets, winning the first set 6-2 and dropping the next 6-1 before winning the final set 6-3. But no one other else won a match against the eventual champions.

"It felt great," Jonas said. "A lot of people felt that it was a fluke the first time I beat him, so it was good to prove them wrong."

Jonas has been on a tear the last month, maintaining a perfect singles record over his last nine matches.

The Judges host Bowdoin College today at 3 p.m. in their regular season finale.