The No. 8 ranked Judges men’s tennis team won in their season opener to Bentley University 8-1. The Judges are now 1-0 on the season, giving Bentley its first loss of the season with a record of 4-1. 

During singles competition, David Aizenberg ’20 defeated Daniel Weitz of Bentley 6-0, 6-2 at No. 1 singles. Anupreeth Coramutla ’21 prevailed over Connor Aulson of Bentley 6-1, 6-4. Jeff Chen ’22 defeated Jordan Soifer 7-5, 6-2. Rajan Vohra ’21 was victorious over Kendall Au of Bentley with a score of 6-0, 6-2. Rookie Simon Kauppila ’23 came out on top over Mauricio Fadul Rubod in two sets, 6-2, 6-2. 

The Judges’ sole loss came at No. 4 singles, where Alexander Novins overcame Adam Tzeng ’22, despite Tzeng taking the first set 6-0. Novins won the match with a score of 0-6, 6-4, 10-7 at No. 4 singles. 

In doubles action, the Judges swept all three matches. The duo of Aizenberg and Coramutla was victorious over Connor Aulson and Daniel Weitz with a score of 8-3 at No. 1 doubles. At No. 2 doubles, the sophomore combo of Chen and Tzeng defeated Mauricio Fadul Rubod and Alexander Novins of Bentley 8-4. Colt Tegtmeier ’22 and Vohra won over Kendall Au and Tawan Rattaseri 8-1 at No. 3 doubles. 

The Brandeis men’s tennis team also went 1-2 this past weekend at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Division III Team Indoor Championships at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN against three competing schools in the University Athletic Association (UAA). The fourth-seeded Judges defeated fifth-seeded Washington University in St. Louis and lost to first-seeded Emory University and third-seeded University of Chicago. 

The eighth-ranked Judges faced the ninth-ranked Washington University Bears in the quarterfinals in the tournament and won the match-up 7-2. The Bears’ two wins came in No. 1 and No. 5 singles. Ethan Hillis of Washington University defeated Aizenberg in straight sets, 1-6, 2-6. Vohra also fell in straight sets to Koki Takabatake, 4-6, 2-6.

Coramutla and Tzeng both had strong comebacks after dropping the first set in No. 2 and No. 3 singles, respectively. Coramutla beat Washington University’s Bernardo Neves in a close three-set match, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, while Tzeng overcame Daniel Li 3-6, 6-3, 6-0. Chen held off J.J. Kroot 6-4, 6-4 at No. 4 singles, while Nikhil Das ’21 made quick work of Sam Komis, dropping just one game to win 6-0, 6-1. 

Neves and Benjamin van der Sman took Aizenberg and Coramutla to a tie-breaker at No. 1 doubles, however, the Judges ultimately came out victorious 8-7(4). Chen and Tzeng bageled Hillis and Mark Wu at No. 2 doubles, 8-0, which Tegtmeier and Vohra beat Daniel Li and Sam Komis 8-4 at No. 3 doubles. 

Against the first-ranked Emory Eagles, the Judges were narrowly defeated 4-5. While the Judges took more doubles matches, the Eagles were too strong in singles competition. Aizenberg and Chen were the only victorious singles players at No. 1 and No. 4 singles, respectively, both winning in three sets. Aizenberg held off Hayden Cassone’s comeback attempt 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, while Chen beat Mark Sverdlov 6-4, 3-6, 7-5. 

Antonio Mora beat Coramutla 3-6, 3-6 at No. 2 singles; Andrew Esses defeated Tzeng at No. 3 singles 2-6, 6-7(3); Rex Serituk came back to defeat Das at No. 5 singles 6-7, 6-1, 6-3; Hassan Kenawi defeat Kauppila 5-7, 6-1.

Aizenberg and Coramutla made quick work of Cassone and Mora, winning 8-3. Chen and Tzeng narrowly defeated Will Wanner and Alec Rabinowitz, topping the Bears 14-12 in a tiebreaker at 7-7 to win 8-7(12). The Bears sole doubles win came at No. 3 doubles when Esses and Kenawi defeated Tegtmeier and Vohra 7-8(2). 

In the third place match against the University of Chicago Maroons, the Judges fell short 3-6 for fourth place. Tzeng and Chen picked up another win at No. 2 doubles and were the only doubles team with a perfect 3-0 record on the weekend, beating the Maroons 8-6. Tegtmeier and Vohra won at No. 3 doubles with the same score and were 1-2 on the weekend together. Erik Kerrigan and Jeremy Yuan from the University of Chicago gave Aizenberg and Coramutla their first doubles loss of the weekend, beating the Judges 8-6. 

Coramutla picked up the only win in singles for the Judges at No. 2, defeating Kerrigan 7-5, 6-2. Despite an early lead after the first set, Jeremy Yuan handed Chen his first loss of the tournament at No. 2 singles with a score of 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. 

Joshua Xu held off Aizenberg’s early lead at No. 1 singles, winning the match 4-6, 6-1, 7-5. Sachin Das and Alex Guzhva made quick work of Tzeng and Das at No. 3 and five singles, winning 6-3, 6-2 and 6-0, 6-2, respectively. 

The men’s team is now 2-2 on the season and will face the Bryant University Bulldogs on Saturday March 7 in Smithfield, RI.