It was quite a roller coaster ride for Brandeis tennis this past weekend. While the men’s team, ranked No. 33 in the country, mounted momentum with a convincing 9-0 shutout of the Coast Guard Bears on Saturday, the team’s third win of the season, they subsequently got a taste of their own medicine, falling 9-0 to the Wesleyan University Cardinals on Sunday. 

In similar fashion, the women’s team struggled to hold their own in competition against the Cardinals’ women’s squad, falling 9-0 on Saturday afternoon.

The men’s team swept doubles play on Saturday, behind several notable performers. 

To start the day, Brian Granoff ’17 and Danny Lubarsky ’16 secured a convincing 8-4 doubles victory on the No. 1 court. 

At the No. 2 court, Michael Arguello ’17 and Jeff Cherkin ’17 proved their worth, duking out an 8-5 victory. It was much of the same at No. 3, as Ryan Bunis ’17 and Alex Siegel ’15 paired up for an 8-2 win. 

The Judges’ onslaught didn’t stop with the end of doubles play. The Judges’ decimation extended to singles competition, resulting in an emphatic sweep. 

To start singles play, Granoff defeated Bears junior Robert Renfrow at No. 1 convincingly, winning 6-2, 6-0. Up next, Arguello, playing at No. 2, stifled Coast Guard junior Mark Guentert en route to a 6-2, 6-1 victory. 

At No. 3, Bunis, Saturday’s standout performer, dismantled junior Weston Fortna of Coast Guard, 6-2, 6-1. Bunis and the team were excited and ready for their home opener of the season. 

“We all felt we had a chip on our shoulder and wanted to prove a new, inspired start to the season with our first home match against Coast Guard,” he said.

 Coming in at No. 4, Michael Secular ’15 battled hard to score a 7-5, 6-2 victory over freshman Michael Melampy of the Bears. At No. 6, Miller pulled out a gritty victory over freshman John Hu, winning the tie-breaker match en route to a 6-1, 5-7, 10-4 victory. 

Finally, Kevin Dupont ’17 wasted no time in quickly securing a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Coast Guard freshman Benson Errington. 

While Saturday brought victory for the men’s squad, Sunday proved difficult for the team to ride their momentum into their matchup with the Wesleyan Cardinals. 

In both doubles and singles play against the Cardinals, the Judges struggled to find a rhythm, losing in a clean 9-0 sweep. 

To open doubles play, Granoff and Lubarsky fell 5-8 to Wesleyan sophomore Michael Liu and junior Zachary Brint at No. 1. 

The doubles play losses kept coming for the Judges, as the partnerships of Arguello and Cherkin (No. 2) and Bunis and Siegel (No. 3) failed to pull out victories, falling by scores of 2-8 and 1-8, respectively. 

Singles play brought much of the same for Brandeis, as Granoff (3-6, 4-6), Sam Berg ’18 (0-6, 3-6), Bunis (5-7, 1-6), Siegel (1-6, 0-6), Secular (0-6, 2-6) and Miller (3-6, 1-6) fell in their respective matches. For the men’s team, there was certainly a large contrast between the two days.

While the men’s team found success on Saturday, the women’s team failed to bring home any victories against the same Wesleyan University Cardinals. 

To open doubles play, Haley Cohen ’18 and Carley Cooke ’15 fell at No. 1 to Cardinal freshmen Eudice Chong and Helen Klass-Warch, 8-0. 

At No. 2, Simone Vandroff ’15 and Maya Vasser ’16 lost a tough match to freshman Nicole McCann and senior Anna Howard of Wesleyan, 8-4. In similar fashion, Charlotte Aaron ’18 and Sarita Biswas ’16 fell 8-1 at No. 3 to freshmen Aashlia Budhiraja and Dasha Dubinsky. 

In singles play, the women’s team continued to struggle against an inspired Cardinals team. At No. 1, Cooke lost convincingly to Wesleyan’s Chong, 1-6, 0-6. 

In the No. 2 slot, Cohen fell 1-6, 2-6 to Klass-Warch. At No. 3, Vandroff fell in a similarly convincing fashion to Wesleyan’s Buhiraja, 0-6, 2-6. 

The Judges’ fortune failed to turn around entering the second half of singles play, as Emily Eska ’16 (1-6, 1-6), Vasser (3-6, 4-6) and Aaron (2-6, 2-6) dropped the No. 4, No. 5 and No.6 games respectively. 

Looking forward to the rest of the season, Bunis remarked that the team wants to “string together some nationally ranked wins and gain momentum going into UAAs … [We also want to] have a focused attitude and trust the work we put in every practice.” On the season the men now stand at a record of 3-6.

They are looking to improve upon last year’s record of 11-9.

The women’s team ended the weekend at 1-6, having lost its last five games. The squad is hoping to build upon last season’s even record of 11-11.

The men look to regain momentum on Friday against Wheaton College. The women look to rediscover their footing Wednesday against local foe Bentley University.