As the season closed, the men’s and women’s tennis teams played a few games before heading to Florida for the University Athletic Association (UAA) championships. After a season full of ups and downs, the two teams looked to close out the season on a high note. The men’s team headed into this stretch with a record of 9-3, while the women’s team had a record of 3-9. On April 9, the women’s team faced off against Skidmore College at home to start this final stretch. Freshmen Bhakti Parwani ’25 and Sabrina Loui ’25 started the day with 8-4 doubles win for Brandeis. Parwani and Loui also had singles wins later that day. Loui won her first set during her singles match 7-6, and barely lost her second one 4-6. In the third and final set, she secured the match win with a 6-3 set win. Parwani won in two sets with a 7-6 set win and a 6-2 set win. Sophomore Jiayi Zhang ’24 additionally had singles win with a 6-4 set win, but ultimately this was not enough as Skidmore ended up winning 6-5.
The next day, the men’s team had an away game against the nearby Babson college. They were behind after the doubles portion as Jeffrey Chen ’22 and Simon Kauppila ’23 had the only doubles win for the day. It was a close match but Chen and Kauppila ultimately got the win 8-4. However, the Judges made a comeback during the singles competition as they won four out of six of the matches. Dylan Walters ’24, Kauppila, Aaron Basye ’24 and Chen Liang ’24 all had singles wins for the day. Walters had a first tough set as he won just 7-5, however he won his second set by a large margin of 6-1. Kauppila lost his first set 5-7, but quickly bounced back with a 6-2 set win. In the match deciding set, Kauppila won in dominant fashion 6-0. Bayse similarly lost the first set 2-6. He also had a strong turn around with back-to-back 6-2 set wins to give him the match victory. Liang got his win in two sets, 6-4 and 6-2. This gave Brandeis a 5-4 victory against Babson.
On the same day, the women’s team finished their short homestand against Franklin Pierce University. Parwani and Loui once again started the day with an 8-5 doubles win. Celia Denis ’25 and Nikita Salkar ’24 also had a very strong 8-2 doubles victory. In the singles matches, Parwani and Loui started with two wins before Anastasia Sia ’25 sealed the team victory with a singles win of her own. Sia narrowly won the first set 7-5 and continued the battle to a 6-4 victory in the second set. The women’s team snapped a six-game losing streak that started on March 13. They looked to maintain that momentum into their last game before the UAA championships.
Both teams then faced Wesleyan University on April 15. The men’s team led after doubles when Walters and Hunter Levine ’23 won their match 8-6 and were followed by an 8-2 win by Colt Tegtmeier ’22 and Aryan Nijhawan ’25. However, the team did not continue that early success in the singles portion as only Liang and Basye won their singles matches. Liang won the first set 6-0 and followed it up with a similarly dominant 6-2 second set victory. Bayse won his first set 6-4 and his second set 6-1. Ultimately, the men’s team fell to Wesleyan 4-5.
The women’s team headed into the singles portion behind 0-3. Loui and Parwani did have a very competitive match against one of the top ranked doubles partners in the region. However, ultimately the two fell with a score of 5-8. Parwani proceeded to have a big upset against one of the top players in the Northeast. She lost the first set 5-7 but made a tremendous bounce back with a 6-0 win in the second set. Then in the tiebreaker set, Parwani completed the upset with a 10-4 set victory. However, this would be the lone point for the team. The Judges played multiple close matches, including Zhang’s 4-6 and 3-6 set defeats. Ana Hatfield ’22 had a similar finish as she also played two close sets ending in 4-6 and 3-6 defeats. Parwani scored the only point for the team as the Judges fell 1-8 in their last game before the UAA championships.
On the very next day, the men’s team faced Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) for Senior Day. Levine and Walters once again won their doubles match at the beginning of the day; however, the Judges lost the other two doubles matches. Their doubles win was a close match as Levine and Walters scraped out an 8-6 victory to get the Judges on the board for the day. The team started a comeback late with singles match wins from Walters, Kauppila and Liang, but this was not enough. Walters’ singles match saw him narrowly win the first set 7-5, before competing hard to win the second set 7-5 as well. Kauppila played a close first set, which ended with a score of 7-6, before ending the match with a 6-2 set win. Liang won two consecutive sets both with a score of 6-4. However, Brandeis ended up falling to RPI 4-5 in their final game before the UAA championships.
In the first match of the UAA tournament, the men’s team faced Washington University in St. Louis (WashU). Walters and Levine got the Judges on the board with an 8-5 victory in doubles. This in the end would be the only point for the Judges against WashU. Chen and Tegtmeier both played close matches that had 6-2 and 6-4 set losses. Liang had a 6-3 set victory, but the match was stopped due to the overall game already decided. Adam Tzeng ’22 also was tied 6-6 in a set before the match was stopped. The final score was 5-1 to give WashU the win.
The women’s team faced Emory University in the quarterfinals of the UAA tournament the very next day. Brandeis fell behind quickly as they lost all three doubles matches. Out of the six singles matches, only two were completed before a winner was declared. Loui and Zhang lost in two sets to give Emory the victory. Before the other matches were stopped, Sia was ahead after she won the first set 6-0. Parwani was also leading after a 6-1 win in her first set. Both players were also leading in the second set before they were stopped. Ultimately, the Judges lost to Emory 0-5.
On April 23, the men’s team played in the UAA consolation semifinals of the UAA tournament against Rochester University. The day started out extremely well for the Judges as they won all three doubles matches. Chen and Tzeng won their doubles match 8-2. Nijhawan and Tegtmeier also secured a doubles victory 8-2. Walters and Levine continued their doubles success with an 8-3 win. There were six singles matches, but only two were completed. Chen won his match with 6-1 and 6-2 set wins. Liang faced little resistance as he won his sets 6-1 and 6-0. Before the matches were stopped, Tegtmeier, Tzeng and Kauppila all were leading after winning one set. Tegtmeier won his first set 6-1. Tzeng’s lead came from a 6-4 first set win. Kauppila also won his first set 6-4. All three of them also were leading their second sets before they were stopped. The final score of the game was 5-0 in favor of Brandeis.
The following day, the women’s team faced New York University (NYU) in the UAA consolation semifinals of the UAA tournament. Brandeis faced NYU earlier in the season and lost 4-5; similar to their last matchup, the Judges took two of the doubles matches to start the day. Parwani and Loui won their match 8-4, while Denis and Salkar won 8-1. Loui, Sia and Zhang secured the win for Brandeis in the singles matches with two set victories. Loui won her sets with scores of 6-0 and 6-2. Sia only surrendered one point on her way to victory as the score of her sets were 6-1 and 6-0. Zhang ended both of her sets with a score of 6-2. Parwani, Hatfield and Salkar were leading their matches before they were stopped. In the revenge match, Brandeis came out on top with a dominant 5-1 victory.
In their final game of the season, the men’s team faced Carnegie Mellon University for the fifth-place match of the UAA tournament. The day started off well for Brandeis, as they won two of the three doubles matches. Chen and Tzeng won their match 8-5, while Tegtmeier and Nijhawan combined for an 8-5 win. Tzeng continued his solid day with two 6-2 set victories to add another point for Brandeis. Chen also won his match in two sets with a score of 6-4 and 6-3. Tegtmeier added a point after winning his match in three sets. He won his first set 7-5 but lost the second set 4-6. However, in the tiebreaker set, Tegtmeier won 5-3. To clinch the victory for Brandeis, Walters won his singles match after losing the first set. After he narrowly lost the first set 4-6, he turned the match around and won the final two sets with scores 6-2 and 6-3. In the final game of the regular season, the men’s tennis team won 6-3.
The women’s team played WashU for their fifth-place match of the UAA tournament on the next day. Brandeis was behind early after Parwani and Loui were the only doubles winners. They won their doubles match 8-7. Parwani won her singles match in dominant fashion as she won the first set 6-3 and second set 6-0. The only other point for Brandeis came from a singles match win from Loui. She won her match in two sets with a score of 6-2. Sia was in a tight match after she won the first set 6-2 and lost the second set. However, the match was stopped before a final score could be given. Brandeis ended the UAA tournament with a 3-6 loss against WashU. They will play one game on May 1 against Endicott College to end their season. This final home game will also be the Senior Day for the women’s tennis team.
The men’s tennis team finished their regular season with a 12-6 record. They were 1-0 in conference games. The team was especially good in-home games as they were 7-2 when playing games at home. Walters led the team in singles wins with 12. He was followed by Colin Fox ’25 and Chen who both had 11 wins. The team was overall 73-51 in singles matches for the regular season. In the UAA games specifically, they were 6-3. Brandeis was especially good in doubles matches this season as they had an overall record of 50-22. In the UAA games, they were 6-3 in doubles matches. Chen and Tzeng when playing together led the team in doubles wins with 19. Walters in his combined doubles matches had 15 total wins and Tegtmeier followed just behind him with 14. While the regular season is over, they may have a chance to compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament. If their season ends with their match against Carnegie Mellon, the men’s tennis team continued to show overall regular season success when compared to their last full season.
