The Brandeis women’s tennis team started their spring season strong this past Saturday with a victory against Division I Bryant University, 4-3. The Division I contest, played at Bryant University in Rhode Island, forced the Judges to play by different rules, making doubles matches played to 7 instead of 8, as well as adding other limitations like no lets, no-advantage scoring and combined doubles matches to count for one point.

The Judges started off the match, taking the first two of three doubles matches. In the number one spot Olivia Leavitt ’19 and transfer Diana Dehterevich ’20 beat their opponent 7-5, while the Brandeis pair in the number two spot, Keren Khromchenko ’19 and Sabrina Ross Neergaard ’20, also secured a victory by the same score of 7-5. Meanwhile, duo Lauren Bertsch ’21 and Haley Cohen ’18 dropped their match 5-7 in the No. 3 spot.

In singles action, the Judges won three and lost three matches against Bryant. Brandeis won in the number one, three and five spots. Neergaard took the top spot for the Judges, splitting the first two sets before winning the third 6-1 to secure her victory. Cohen played in the No. 3 spot, winning 6-4, 6-4, while Bertsch took the No. 5 spot win when her opponent retired after splitting two sets with Bertsch. The Bulldogs snatched wins in the No. 2 spot over Khromchenko and the No. 4 spot over Michele Lehat ’19. The No. 6 match came down to third sets with Rachel Zubrinksy ’21 coming back with a 6-4 win in the second set after dropping the first 0-6. Unfortunately, Zubrinsky couldn’t carry her momentum into the third set, losing 1-6 to give the match victory over to Bryant.

The Brandeis women’s tennis team is back in action on Feb. 19 against CalTech. The competition will be part of the team’s annual trip to California during February break.