Starting their seasons off on Sept. 22 and 24, respectively, the women’s and men’s tennis teams are both off to a very strong start through three meets. 


James Wallach Invitational

The first week of October, the team attended the James Wallach Invitational at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. For the second year in a row, the men's tennis team won the A Doubles flight. Tyler Ng ’19 and Jeff Chen ’22 defeated Ruparel and Fung from Amherst, along with Davis and Quijano from host Bates, and advanced to the semifinal round. During the semifinals, the Judges defeated Wang and Jiang from Bowdoin, 8–6, to reach the finals. 


ITA Regionals

The weekend of Sept. 28, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association tournament took place in Middlebury, Vermont. This was the third year in a row in which the team reached the semifinal round, as well as the second year in a row that the Judges have a doubles team in competition on the final day of play. Single Nikhil Das ’21 defeated Guilherme Barbosa of Nichols College in the first round and then Harris Foulkes of Amherst College. Das is expected to play Arturo Kam, eighth-seed from Williams College, in the third round. In doubles, Jackson Kogan ’19 and Adam Tzeng ’22 were the second seeds in the draw in their first round. 


On Sept. 22, the women’s tennis team attended the Bates Doubles Tournament. The team ended with a 17–6 record in the opening meet of the season. Olivia Leavitt ’19 and Lauren Bertsh ’21 held the top record of the weekend. The duo won the third place match of the main draw on the first day of action. On the second day, they went 3–0. On the first day, Isabel Cepeda ’21 and Ana Hatfield were 3–0. On the second day, Cepeda ended 2–1 posting a win with senior Sophia He and ending 1–1 with Rachel Zubrinsky ’21.


Middlebury College Invitational

On the weekend of Sept. 16, the men’s tennis team attended the Middlebury College Invitational. In this tournament, three of the men’s team duos went to the finals. In the A fight, Jackson Kogan ’19 and Adam Tzeng ’22 took home the championship, defeating a doubles team from Colby College, Tufts University, and Bates College. In the B fight, duos from Brandeis made up the 1 and 3 seed. The Judges did not disappoint, with both pairs of teammates making it to the final. The top seeded team was comprised of 2018 NCAA tournament qualifier Anupreeth Coramutla ’21 and Colt Tegtmeier ’22. They defeated duos from Colby College, Middlebury College, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on their way to the final. The third seeded pairing was comprised of Rajan Vohra ’21 and Nikhil Das ’21. They made quick work of teams from RPI, Bates College, and Tufts University on the way to the finals where they would ultimately meet their teammates. 

While a final featuring four Brandeis students has no loser, Vohra and Das came out the official victors after an 8-5 finals battle.

Looking forward, the men’s team will attend the Tufts/Brandeis Invitational on the weekend of Friday, Oct. 12, and the women will attend the Middlebury Hidden Duals on that same weekend 

Both teams have had their fair share of top performers that have shined above all others at this point in the season. Tyler Ng '19 has had success in both singles and doubles action. He has had wins in each area of play. While last year's dynamic duo of Kogan and Coramutla have been split up, they are both performing well with their new partners. On the women's side, Leavitt and Bertsch continue their sucess from last season. They will continue to be the premier women's doubles duo that the Judges have this year. Isabel Cepeda '21 and Ana Hatfield '22 have shown similar cohesiveness early on. Practice will only improve the duo's success.