The men’s and women’s tennis teams both had successful weeks with each team defeating two of their three opponents.
The 24th-ranked men’s team swept Clark University 9-0 on Friday, April 4. The doubles matches ended quickly for Brandeis with the pairs of Michael Arguello ’17 and Danny Lubarsky ’16, Brian Granoff ’17 and Michael Secular ’15 and Jeff Cherkin ’17 and Alec Siegel ’15 winning 8-3, 8-3 and 8-1, respectively. Meanwhile, all singles matches ended in straight sets. Cherkin continued his dominance into singles where he won 6-0, 6-0. Granoff won the first seeded match 6-1, 6-0, and Secular won 6-0, 6-1. Lubarsky, Siegel and Ryan Bunis ’17 round out the other singles winners.
The team’s momentum continued into the weekend when they defeated Wheaton College on Sunday 8-1. The first place doubles match was the only one that Brandeis lost. The doubles duos of Granoff and Secular and Siegel and Cherkin each won their doubles match 8-2. Siegel swept his fourth-placed singles match, winning 6-0, 6-0. Additionally, Granoff, Arguello, Lubarsky and Cherkin each won their singles match in straight sets. Lubarsky needed an extra game in the first set to pull off the win, coming out on top 7-6, 6-1. Secular was able to hold onto his lead in a long final set, winning 6-2, 4-6, 10-7 in the fifth singles match.
The men lost a doubleheader to Bryant University on Wednesday 8-1 and 6-3. The men stand at 8-4 and face Trinity College at home on Saturday.
The 24th-ranked women began the weekend on Friday, April 4 with a tough 5-4 loss to 19th-ranked Skidmore College in the third annual Nor’Easter Bowl. The Judges dug themselves into a hole, losing all three doubles matches. Brandeis came back to win the first three singles matches and tie the score at 3-3. Moving inside due to rain, Brandeis lost the next two matches, allowing Skidmore to clinch the win with their fifth point. Skidmore improved to 11-2.
The Judges faced Babson College on the following day, winning 7-2 after defeating Babson on Wednesday by the same score. Carley Cooke ’15 and Roberta Bergstein ’14 won the first doubles match 8-2 as captain Marissa Lazar ’14 and Allyson Bernstein ’14 won their match 8-0. Cooke, Bernstein and Bergstein won the first three singles matches in straight sets to clinch a Brandeis victory. Simone Vandroff ’15 and Hannah Marion ’16 won the fifth- and sixth-place matches in three sets to extend the team’s margin of victory.
The women took the court the following day to face Wellesley College. Every match counted as a team victory was not claimed until the final match, putting Brandeis on top 5-4. Bernstein and Lazar won the first doubles match in the third spot 8-3, before Wellesley won the final two doubles matches. The Judges won the first three singles matches in straight sets to lead 4-2. Vandroff won 6-0, 6-0, Bergstein won 6-0, 6-1, and Bernstein won 6-4, 6-3. Wellesley climbed back into it, winning the next two singles matches in the first and sixth spots in three sets. With all of the pressure on Emily Eska’s ’16 match, she began with a hard-fought victory in the first set but lost the second. Down 3-2 in the final set, Eska came back to win the set, match and competition with a 7-6 (7-5), 1-6, 6-3 performance.
Brandeis left the Nor’Easter Bowl in fifth place. They move to 6-8 on the season. They headed to Wheaton College on Thursday and will return home to face Bentley University in a rescheduled match on Friday at 3 p.m.
