Both the men and women’s tennis programs had strong performances this past weekend in the early stretch of the 2018 season. In their one match, the No. 20 ranked men defeated Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Friday at home, while the women split their two matches against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Wellesley College. 

Judges 6, Wellesley 3

The Judges, after losing to MIT the day before, were able to come away with a  victory over No. 25 ranked Wellesley on the road. The day began well with the team taking a 2-1 advantage at doubles. At the No. 1 court, the squad suffered its only doubles defeat of the afternoon. The duo of Olivia Leavitt ’19 and Haley Cohen ’18 fell by the score of 5-8. 

The Judges got their first point on the board on the No. 2 court. Keren Khromchenko ’19 and Lauren Bertsch ’21 earned an 8-4 victory against Wellesley. At No. 3 doubles, Michele Lehat ’18 and Rachel Zubrinsky ’21 took home an 8-5 victory. At singles play, Khromchenko kept her impressive day going with a dominant 6-1, 6-1 victory at No. 2 singles. 

The Judges swept the last three singles matches of the day. At No. 4, Bertsch picked up her second win of the day by the score of 6-1, 6-3. Lehat also earned a victory over her Wellesley opponent at the No. 5 court, 6-3, 6-0. The momentum continued into the last singles match of the day at No. 6, where Zubrinsky won 7-6 (9-7), 6-3. The victory moved the Judges to 5-2 on the young season. 

MIT 7, Judges 2

The No. 19 Judges fell in a dominant performance by the No. 21-ranked Engineers from MIT. The day started off poorly for the squad as they lost all three doubles matches against MIT. In both the No. 2 and No. 3 courts, the team fell by the score of 9-7. 

In singles play, Brandeis was able to capture two individual victories. Both wins came in the form of hard-fought three-set contests. At No. 3, Leavitt pulled away a 1-6, 7-6 (8-6), 10-3 victory. Bertsch picked up where Leavitt left off by winning by the score of 7-5, 3-6, 10-3 at the No. 4 court. 

Judges 5, RPI 3

The squad got off to a fast start in doubles play against RPI. In a tight tiebreaker, David Aizenberg ’20 and Anupreeth Coramutla ’21 edged out a victory 9-8 at  the No. 1 doubles court, with the win coming from a 7-3 edge during the deciding tiebreaker. In an ironic turn, the Judges actually fell by the exact same score at No. 3 doubles. Nikhil Das ’21 and Rajan Vohra ’21 were unable to pull off a tiebreaker victory against fierce competition from RPI. 

Overall, the team controlled the doubles results by winning at the No. 2 court. By breaking RPI’s last serve, the duo of Benjamin Wolfe ’20 and Tyler Ng ’19 were able to capture an 8-6 victory. The Judges kept the momentum going when they turned to the singles court. The first-years were the key for the team on the day, especially on the No. 2 and No. 3 singles courts. 

At No. 2 Coramutla took the victory, while Vohra earned the win on the No. 3 court. Coramutla had a difficult test, with the game going the full three sets, 6-4, 6-7 (7-1), 6-3. On the other hand, Vohra made quick work of his opponent from RPI, winning 6-0, 6-1. Das, another first-year, picked up a win for the team at No. 5 singles. Das edged out the victory by the score of 6-2, 2-6, 7-5. The classmates were the only ones to win for the team at singles; Aizenberg, Ng and Wolfe all fell in their singles matches. 

The Judges will be back in action this week when the men’s team faces off at home against Middlebury College on Saturday. The women will next play on March 24 against Trinity College on the road. 

 With the Men’s team currently sitting at 20th in the nation, the Judges hope to continue their winning ways and continue to climb up the national ranks. The more time spent there, the more positive exposure for the program.