The Brandeis women’s tennis team had a busy week while the rest of the student body was on break. They were tasked with facing multiple nationally ranked opponents who gave Brandeis some stiff competition. After an incredibly successful start to their season, the Judges have now lost four of their last five matches, putting a damper in their season. However, it is important to consider their competition. Their last five matches have come against the No. 17 Skidmore College, No. 8 University of Massachusetts Amherst, No. 23 New York University, and No. 6 Tufts University. Stonehill college is also ranked 43rd in Division II. 


Judges 3, Skidmore 6

After a successful start in the doubles games, the Judges were defeated by Skidmore College in Saturday’s match. The duo of Olivia Leavitt ’19 and Lauren Bertsch ’21 defeated Ada Wiggins and Renee Karchere-Sun of Skidmore by a score of 8-5. Rachel Zubrinsky ’21 and Haley Cohen ’18 followed suit with an 8-5 win of their own against Alexa Goldberg and Jessica Ampel of Skidmore. The Thoroughbreds flipped the script in singles action, taking five out of the six matches to win by an overall score of 6-3. 


Judges 8, Amherst 1 

The judges fell to No. 8 UMass Amherst by a score of 8-1. Brandeis’ lone point came at the hand of Bertsch and Leavitt. They have been the most consistent and successful doubles team for the Judges this season and should be a force to be reckoned with for the foreseeable future. The Mammoths were utterly dominant in singles action, not allowing any Judge to score more than two points in a given set. The judges did not win a single set.  


Judges 4, NYU 5

The Judges were defeated by the NYU Violet on April 7th in an extremely close contest. Brandeis was defeated in the first two doubles contests of the day. Michele Lehat ’19 and Cohen were bested by Rupa Ganesh and Judy Kam of NYU. Soon after Leavitt and Bertsch were defeated by Anna Maria Buraya and Coco Kulle of NYU. In the third and final doubles match of the day, Sabrina R. Neergaard ’20 and Keren Khromchenko ’19 were victorious against Vanessa Scott and Flyora Shiyanova by a score of 8-6. The Judges and Violets then split the singles matches 3 games to 3. Olivia Leavitt, Lauren Bertch, and Michele Lehat were all the victors in their respective matches. Sabrina Neergaard, Keren Khromchenko and Haley Cohen were all defeated in their matches. 


Judges 6, Stonehill 3

The Judges overcame a 2-1 doubles deficit to come back and defeat the Stonehill College women’s tennis team 6-3. The doubles team of Bertsch and Leavitt dominated Alexandra Vo and Annelise Howick of Stonehill by a score of 8-2. However, the other two doubles teams did not share the same glory. Khromchenko and. Neergaard were defeated 9-7 and Cohen  and Lehat were quickly shut down 8-1. However, in singles action, the Judges were dominant, taking 5 of the 6 matches. 


Judges 1, Tufts 8

The judges faced crosstown rival Tufts University on March 31st. Out of 6 singles and 3 doubles matches, the Judges earned only one point. This point came from a doubles win in which Bertsch  and Khromchenko defeated Tomo Iwasaki and Julia Keller of the Jumbos. Bertsch and Leavitt were the only ones to take their singles matches into a third round tiebreaker. 

The women’s team will conclude their regular season this weekend. They play at Babson College at 3pm on Friday. Following this, they will host Bates College at 10am on Saturday. The team will host Wheaton College in their season finale on Sunday, but the time of this game has yet to be determined. The following weekend, the team will travel to Altamonte Springs, Florida, where they will participate in the UAA playoff tournament against other schools in the conference. The team will have to wait another three weeks until the NCAA national championships on May 21, which will take place in Claremont, California.