After a crushing 5-4 loss at No. 24 New York University last weekend, the men's tennis team would be forgiven for taking a little while to recover from such a demoralizing defeat.

Instead, the team responded in emphatic fashion, returning to its winning ways Saturday with a 7-2 romp of the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn. on Saturday.

The Judges improved to 5-3 on the season with their latest win.

While the Judges took five of six singles matches and two out of three in doubles play, the day did not get off to a great start for Brandeis on the doubles court.

At the No. 1 doubles slot, the Bears' sophomore tandem of Mark Guentert and Weston Fortna downed Michael Secular '15 and Brian Granoff '17 in a tight 8-6 decision to give the Bears an early lead over the visitors.

However, Brandeis swept second and third doubles as Danny Lubarsky '16 and Michael Arguello '17 beat sophomore Robert Renfrow and junior Alex Mead at second doubles by the same margin.

From there, Alec Siegel '15 and Jeffrey Cherkin '17 defeated junior John Lightner and freshman Bruce Kim, 8-2.

The singles matches proved even more fruitful for Brandeis. At the No. 1 in singles play, Arguello defeated Guentert 6-4, 6-3. Though Renfrow gained a measure of revenge for his doubles defeat by downing Granoff in a three-set match, 0-6, 6-2, 6-2, his teammates were unable to solve the Judges.

Ryan Bunis '17 beat Fortna at the No. 3 singles in yet another three-set decision, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.

The most dominant performances were found in the No. 4 and No. 6 slots. Cherkin showed no mercy on Lightner, defeating his opponent 6-0, 6-0, while Adam Brown '14 downed Kim by the same margin.

Meanwhile at the No. 5 court, Matthew Zuckerman '14 clinched the match for the Judges by defeating Mead in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2.

The team's progress has come as somewhat of a surprise. Despite losing valuable talent such as former Judges Steven Milo '13 and Josh Jordan '13, the young team is 5-3 after eight matches this season. Last year, the squad was 3-5 following the same number of games.

As the weather starts to improve, the Judges should expect to see increased action-a key test of their current success.

The team visits Babson College tomorrow in a 3 p.m. match, while on Saturday, Bowdoin College pays a visit to the Gosman Recreation and Convocation Center.

Based on their early season performance, it appears that this could be a great year for the men's tennis squad.
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