The Brandeis Judges Mens Tennis team season started off strong this week with a 2-1 record. The season began with a loss to Middlebury, 7-0, but the Judges bounced back with a smashing 6-1 victory over Hamilton and a strong victory in their home opener, 5-2 over Skidmore. Not a bad start for first year coach, Ben Lamanna.
In their home opener against Skidmore on Wednesday, the Judges started strong and never looked back. The singles portion began with victories by Sam Jonas 07 (6-2, 3-6, 6-1), Michael Vulfovich 07 (6-1, 6-0), and Jordan Bieber 07 (6-2, 6-3).

Skidmore managed to rally to win the next two matches, setting up the crucial final match. However, Chris Hersel 06 managed to win a tight match that went into a super tie-breaker: 6-3, 5-7, 10-8.

The doubles matches went smoothly, with the pairings of Bieber/Jonas, Volfovich/Sam Schulman 09 and Cliff Silverman 07/Hart Comess-Daniels 06 winning 8-4, 8-4, 9-7 to give Brandeis the 5-2 victory.

The season began last Saturday in Middlebury, VT. Middlebury, a tennis powerhouse, was never in doubt, sweeping all singles and doubles matches. Only Schulman in the second match and Vulfovich in the sixth contest forced a third set. The doubles teams of Jonas/Beiber, Schulman/Volfovich, and Silverman/Chris Hersel went out and went down 8-2, 8-6, and 8-4.

Sundays match against Hampton was met with far better results as Brandeis picked up a 6-1 win, its first victory of the year. Sam Jonas had a particularly strong game, which ended with him shutting out his Hamilton opponent, Dan Gordon.

The lone blemish came in the last match, when Hart Comess-Daniels fell. The doubles teams of Beiber/Jonas, Volfovich/Schulman and Hersel/Silverman each won their matches 8-4, 8-5, 8-5.

Brandeis continues play with a three home games, starting on the 18th against Clark, then USCGA on the 20th and Wheaton on the 23rd.