Both the Brandeis men’s and women’s tennis teams faced a full weekend of matches, including the last home match of the spring season this past Sunday, making it Senior Day for the six graduating players. The women upset both of their opponents, beating No. 13 Skidmore College by a margin of 6-3 and winning against University Athletic Association rivals from New York University by the same score. On the men’s side, the 10th ranked Judges fell to number five Bowdoin College in a 3-6 fashion, but defeated NYU by a score of 6-3 on Senior Day.
Against Skidmore, the women won at the number three and two spots, but partners Olivia Leavitt ’19 and Lauren Bertsch ’21 fell at the number one spot by a score of 8-7 (7-4). At number two, Diana Dehterevich ’20 and Keren Khromchenko ’19 beat their opponents 8-5. To make the score 2-1 after doubles play, Sophia He ’19 and Ana Hatfield ’22 saw victory after an 8-6 win. In singles, Leavitt sealed a 6-4, 6-0 win at the number two spot. Khromchenko also was successful, winning a superset tiebreaker 10-8 as the number three seed, making it the lengthiest match played against Skidmore. Lastly in the number five and six spots, He and classmate Michele Lehat ’19 both saw wins, making the final score of the match 6-3.
On Sunday, the Judges faced the Violets of NYU, sweeping them in doubles. Leavitt and Bertsch began by winning a tiebreaker set at number one, ending the match 8-7 (7-2). Dehterevich and Khromchenko dominated in the number two spot, seeing a score of 8-4. Lastly, He and Hatfield came in with another tiebreaker set, winning 8-7 (7-4) at number three. In singles, the Violets had a strong showing in the top seeds, defeating the Judges at the number one and two spots. However, Khromchenko, Bertsch, and Hatfield stepped up at the number three, four, and five spots respectively, giving Brandeis the three wins needed to defeated NYU by a margin of 6-3.
With the men, the Judges fell to the Polar Bears of Bowdoin College on Saturday. Doubles started off strong, with David Aizenberg ’20 and Anupreeth Coramutla ’21 defeated their opponents 8-6 at number one, while Jeff Chen ’22 and Adam Tzeng ’22 also won 8-5 at number two. Ultimately, Nikhil Das ’21 and Rajan Vohra ’21 fell 2-8 at the number three spot, leaving the Judges leading 2-1 heading into the second half of the match. However, the Polar Bears dominated singles play, with the Judges only seeing one win at the number four spot, as Chen defeated his opponent 6-4, 6-1.
Despite falling to Bowdoin, the men did not let this set them back in their next match, turning around to beat NYU handily the next day. The Judges swept doubles play, as Aizenberg and Coramutla won 8-2 at number one, Zach Cihlar ’19 and Tzeng defeated their opponents 8-4 at number two, and Tyler Ng ’19 and Colt Tegtmeier ’22 finished the job with an 8-4 win at number three. This impressive performance propelled Brandeis to success, as they split the singles matches with NYU, seeing wins from Coramutla, Chen, and Cihlar at the number two, four, and six spots respectively.
Against NYU, both the men’s and women’s teams hosted Senior Day, sending off He, Khromchenko, Leavitt, Lehat, Cihlar, and Ng as they played their last home match at Gosman. Congratulations to the Class of 2019!
