The No. 28 Brandeis women’s tennis team performed admirably against tough top-10 competition this past weekend. The tournament, hosted by Middlebury College on Friday and Saturday, featured singles and doubles matches against Middlebury, Williams College and Amherst College.

In the doubles portion of the event on Friday night, the squad fell in all their matches against the No. 3 team in the country, Middlebury. In the first match of the night, Sabrina Ross Neergaard ’20 and Olivia Leavitt ’19 competed well, ultimately falling 8-5 to the host Panthers. The contest was the closest for the Judges on the night. In the second match against Middlebury, Haley Cohen ’18 and Sophia He ’19 lost their match 8-1 in a hard-fought battle. The other two Judges duos were bageled 8-0 by their opponents. While the results were not impressive for the Judges, the experience of playing against the third-best team in Division III will undoubtedly help the team as it continues through the season.

On Saturday, the Judges again faced off against Middlebury, this time in singles action. Neergaard improved upon her strong performance in doubles play, triumphing over her No. 2 singles opponent 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 10-7. Neergaard had the lone victory for Brandeis, as Cohen, Leavitt, He, Michele Lehat ’19 and Keren Khromchenko ’19 all fell to their opposition.

The team played to a better record against Amherst later in the day. The Judges were able to escape with an impressive 3-3 draw versus the No. 7 team in the nation. Neergaard was victorious again, winning the No. 1 event 6-4, 6-3. Khromchenko was victorious in her No. 4 singles matchup by a score of 4-6, 6-0, 10-4. Cohen also earned a victory, winning against the No. 2 matchup 1-6, 6-4, 10-6.

In the third contest against Williams, Neergaard was unable to pull out the victory, even though she left with a close defeat of 6-4, 7-6 (7-4). Lehat was the only member of the squad to earn a victory against No. 2 Williams, 6-2, 6-1 at No. 6 singles. Even with only one win to show, the team hung around with the second-best team in Division III.

After facing intense competition, the Judges will next be in action in February after a long break between seasons.