The Brandeis men's tennis team sent several competitors to the Wallach Invitational at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, seeking to round out their season on a high note. The women, meanwhile, had the opportunity to enjoy home-court advantage, but could not capitalize, falling in an 8-1 defeat to Tufts University.

In the defeat to Tufts, the lone highlight for the women came from the triumph of Emily Eska '16, who came back to win her match in three sets. She defeated her opponent, freshman Hanna Slutsky, by 4-6, 6-3 and 10-5 margins.

The Judges sent just one other competitor to the third set-Allyson Bernstein '14-but she could not capitalize on her first set victory, eventually dropping the second and third set super tiebreaker by 6-2, 3-6, and 10-4 tallies. The other four matches all ended in straight set defeats, leaving the Judges at a 5-1 deficit before the doubles matches began.

Meanwhile, the doubles teams did not fare much better, dropping all three of their matches in single sets to drop to an 8-1 deficit.

"We scheduled the match knowing it'd be a tough result without some of our top players," said head coach Ben Lamanna.

"However, [it was a] good way to see where the rest of our team is at and a lots of girls played well. [Eska] has a great future with us."

The men, meanwhile, made a statement in Lewiston.

The Judges sent three singles players and two pairs of doubles teams into the second round at the Wallach Invitational, facing competitors from Amherst College, Bates, Bowdoin College, Colby College, Middlebury College, Skidmore College, Trinity College and Tufts. The Judges sent eight members to the singles courts and advanced three into the second round.

Michael Arguello '17 won his first round match in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 before falling in the second round to Middlebury sophomore Ari Smolyar 6-4, 6-2. He was joined in the second round by Jeff Cherkin '17, who advanced with a straight set victory 7-5, 6-3. Yet Cherkin fell in the second round to Tufts senior Zach Ladwig, 6-1, 6-1.

Friday's action also saw two doubles teams-Danny Lubarsky '16 and Arguello as well as Matthew Zuckerman '14 and Ben Fine '15-advance to the second round.

Zuckerman and Fine were downed 8-3, while Lubarsky and Arguello had a more competitive match, falling 8-6.

Additionally, Mitch Krems '16 lost a tough match to Middlebury senior co-captain Ted Fitzgibbons 6-7 (2), 6-3, 12-10.

But it was Krem's doubles partner, Brian Granoff '17, who stole the show. Granoff was pushed to the third set of his first round match before eventually winning 4-6, 6-1, 10-6. He then had been cruising through his second round match against Amherst College freshman Myles Tang 6-2, 1-0 before Tang retired.

Granoff's run at the Invitational would end Sunday, when he fell to Middlebury senior co-captain Alex Johnston, 6-3, 6-4.
Johnston later went on to win the A Singles portion of the Invitational. Granoff's run to the third round was the furthest any member of the men's squad advanced in the weekend.

"It was really nice having the whole team watch me play in the semifinals against Middlebury's No. 1 player," he said. "It was a rematch for me personally, as I had played him two weeks before [losing 6-3, 6-0 at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regional competition at Williams College]. It was definitely a better matchup for me to play him outdoors [as opposed to their first match indoors]. I'm never happy with a loss, but this time I performed much better."

The Wallach Invitational marked the final set of matches in the men's fall season. The women are set to conclude their season next weekend at the New England Championships in Amherst, Mass.