The men’s tennis team, currently ranked #30, competed in five matches in Southern California during the February recess.
The Judges started off the competiton week strong with a victory over their first competitor, Caltech, 8-1. Michael Arguello ’17 and Ryan Bunis ’17 earned an 8-4 win to take the top spot in the doubles tournament. Tyler Ng ’19 and David Aizenberg ’20 earned second with an 8-1 victory. Brian Granoff ’17 and Jeff Cherkin ’17 finished the day with an 8-2 victory to give the Judges a doubles sweep.
In singles play, Granoff won 12 straight games to give him a 6-0, 6-0 victory over the Beavers. Ng won his singles match 6-2, 6-3, while Aizenberg also won his match 7-5, 6-3. Local Jackson Kogan ’19 earned a straight-set win, 7-5, 6-3. The final two matches of the day were decided over tiebreakers. Bunis grinded out a win for the number-two seat 6-1, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5). Caltech held the top seat before the upset. Arguello, however, fell to the Beaver at the top singles spot in a third set tiebreaker. The score was 6-4, 5-7, 9-11.
On the second match day, the men did a split squad match. Half the team competed against Whittier College, while the other half travelled to Glendale Community College. Both squads earned wins, pushing the team’s record to 3-0.
At Glendale, Brandeis took a 2-1 lead after doubles, then took five of the six singles matches. Granoff and Cherkin took an 8-3 win to take the number one seat in the doubles tournament. Harshil Dwivedi ’19 and Jordan Brodie ’19 earned an 8-4 victory, placing third in the tournament. Kogan earned a victory in his singles match with a score of 7-6, 7-6. Ethan Saal ’18 earned a 6-2, 6-1 win in the third seat of singles play. Billy Wilson ’18 dropped only two games to take a match victory of 6-0, 6-2. The final score ended in 7-2.
At Whittier College, Brandeis swept the doubles tournament and won three of six singles matches in straight two-set wins. The match culminated in an 8-1 win for the Judges, with only one singles player falling to a Whittier player in the number-four singles spot.
The Judges took a 2-7 loss when they traveled to the University of the Redlands later that week. Granoff and Ng were the only Judges to take a victory that day, each taking their matches to a tiebreaker. Granoff won with a score of 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 and Ng took his victory with a score of 7-5, 5-7, 10-5.
The final match of the week was against number-six Claremont-Mudd-Scripps where the Judges fought hard but took a close loss, with a final score of 4-5. In the doubles tournament, the Judges took first and second. Arguello and Bunis took a victory of 8-6, and Aizenberg and Ng slide into the win with a score of 8-5. The Judges took two more victories in the singles matches. Granoff took his victory by earning a score of 6-2, 6-7, 6-4. The second victory was earned by Kogan whose match also went to three sets 5-7, 6-4, 6-2.
Though left with little free time between practices and matches, the team managed to take a drive to Santa Monica Pier and spend a little time at the beach as part of their free time. The team also made it out to a couple of the women’s tennis matches, who also competed in California.
On and off the court, the team spent a lot of time together. Arguello, the senior captain, said, “Every year when we go on this California trip, we stay in a tiny house, and spend every waking moment together. It’s hard to not grow closer to your teammates in that positive environment.”
The team has their home opener on Saturday, March 4 against Stevens Institute of Technology, whom Brandeis lost to 4-5 in the previous season. They will also be hosting conference opponent New York University on Friday, March 10.
