Saturday featured two tennis competitions on campus between nationally ranked squads. The 24th-ranked men’s tennis team faced 12th-ranked Bowdoin College in a tough 6-2 loss. The fifth singles match ended early for the teams due to rain.
The competition began with a bang in the doubles match featuring Brandeis’ Michael Arguello ’17 and Danny Lubarsky ’16. The home pair led early, but the Polar Bears rallied to come back to come within one at 7-6. Bowdoin tied the match in the next game, which featured 10 deuces and five Brandeis match points. After an 8-8 tie Brandeis was able to win a close tiebreaker 7-5.
Brian Granoff ’17 and Michael Secular ’15 lost the next doubles match 8-3, and Jeff Cherkin ’17 and Alec Siegel ’15 lost the third match 8-2. Arguello, Ryan Bunis ’17 and Secular lost the first three singles matches in straight sets to allow a Bowdoin clinch. Granoff won his singles match with a tiebreaker 6-2, 2-6, 10-8. Lubarsky lost the third-place singles match in straight sets before the final match of the day, featuring Siegel, was stopped due to weather. Each team moves to a 5-4 record. Brandeis’ matchup at Babson College on Sunday was rescheduled for Thursday. They will then head to Worcester on Friday to face Clark University.
The 24th-ranked women’s tennis team lost to 14th-ranked Trinity College 5-4. The Judges were outplayed in doubles matches, losing two of three. Allyson Bernstein ’14 and Marissa Lazar ’14 had a dominant 8-1 victory in the second doubles match. Brandeis started advantageously in singles, winning two of the first three. Carley Cooke ’15 and Roberta Bergstein ’14 won their matches in straight sets. Bernstein lost the second placed singles match after nearly winning the set. The teams were tied with one singles match remaining.
Simone Vandroff ’15 lost the fourth singles match in straight sets while Alexa Katz ’14 won the sixth-seeded singles match 6-2, 7-5. In the final match, Emily Eska ’16 began the first two sets with a 3-0 lead. She lost the first set but persevered to win the second. Eska led 4-1 in the final set but as had happened in the previous sets, Elizabeth Gerber came back to lead 5-4 before Eska tied it once again. Gerber won the final two games to win the match and team competition. Trinity improves to 5-1.
The women returned to the courts the next day to face seventh-ranked Bowdoin. The Judges were close, being down by one at 4-3 but could not pull off the upset, subsequently losing 5-3. Brandeis leaves the weekend 3-7. They traveled to Babson College on Wednesday, April 2 and won 7-2. The team returns home on Friday, April 3 against Skidmore College.
