On Sep. 18 and Sep. 19, the Brandeis men’s tennis team participated in their first competition of the year at the Middlebury Invitational. The competition was fierce but ultimately the Judges fared well in their first games of the year.
In the singles A section, senior Jeffrey Chen ’22 started out as the fourth seed and played against a student from Tufts University in the first round. Chen proceeded to win in two consecutive sets with scores 6-4 in both rounds. He then faced a student from Colby College. Chen once again finished the match after winning two consecutive sets with scores 6-4 and 6-3. However, Chen then fell to a student from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute after taking the first set 6-2 but then losing two sets in a row.
For the singles B section, freshman Colin Fox ’25 faced his first action for Brandeis against a student from Tufts University. Fox was slated as the first seed of his section. He took the first set 6-4 but dropped the second set before taking the victory after the third set. In his second match, Fox faced a student from Skidmore College that quickly took the first set 6-1. However, Fox bounced back and won two rounds to move on to the semifinals. In the semifinals against a student from Middlebury College, Fox again lost the first set but finished the reverse sweep to move on to the semifinals. The finals were possibly one of his strongest performances as he defeated a student from Colby College 6-3 and 6-2 to win section C.
In the singles D section, three Brandeis players participated and all three of them made it to the quarterfinals. Sophomore Chen Liang ’24 and sophomore Aaron Basye ’24 both made it to the quarterfinals but did not advance. Freshman Aryan Nijhawan ’25 not only made it to the quarterfinals, but also made it to the semifinals before falling to a student from RPI.
For the doubles A section, seniors Chen and Adam Tzeng ’22 were ranked as the number one seed, and they did not disappoint. The two seniors dominated the competition to win their section.
On Sep. 11 and Sep. 12, the Brandeis women’s tennis team participated in the Wallach Invitational. They played in teams of two against various schools. In the first round, a team of sophomore Nikita Salkar ’24 and freshman Anastasia Sia ’25 took on students from Colby College. After Salkar lost the first set 3-6, Sia and a combination of the two players won the last two sets to win the match 2-1. In another match against Colby College, freshman Bhakti Parwani ’25 and senior Ana Hatfield ’22 played close sets but ultimately fell to Colby College 1-2. Sophomore Ella Subramanian ’24 and sophomore Jiayi Zhang ’24 also fell to Colby College 1-2. In another close match, senior Olivia Howe ’22 and senior Summer Quinn ’22 faced Bowdoin College but lost 1-2. For the last match of the first round, freshman Sabrini Loui ’25 and freshman Cecelia Denis ’25 defeated Bates College 3-0.
In the second round of day 1, Salkar and Sia struggled against Bowdoin College and ultimately lost 0-3. However, Parwani and Hatfield followed the match up with a big 3-0 victory against Trinity College. The Judges got another win from Subramanian and Zhang against Bates College with a score of 2-1. After their first wins with Brandeis, Loui and Denis could not come out on top against Bowdoin College as they were swept in three sets. In the final match of the round, Howe and Quinn ended on a high note with a 2-1 victory against Trinity College.
For the third and final round of day 1, the Judges unfortunately only had two match wins. The first was a 3-0 victory against Trinity College and a 2-1 victory against Bates College. Loui and Denis bounced back from their previous loss against Bowdoin to beat Trinity College, and Howe and Quinn finished the day strong with their 2-1 win against Bates College.
On day 2, through two rounds, the Judges had three total match wins. Two of the matches were against Trinity College and one was against Colby College. After a solid start to the season, the women’s tennis team will move on to participate in the ITA Championships on Oct. 1 and Oct. 3. The men’s tennis team will next play in the MIT Invitational on Oct. 15 and Oct. 17.
