The men’s tennis team opened their season at the Middlebury College Invitational on Saturday with a pair of  individual wins in the opening rounds of the tournament and hard-luck losses on the doubles court. 

The Judges advanced a pair of players out of the first round of the individual tournament, but neither member of the squad could advance out of the quarterfinals.

Brian Granoff ’17, who qualified for last year’s NCAA Championships, defeated Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute senior captain Brandon Mazzara in his opening-round match of the A Singles Flight. Granoff needed a tiebreaker in the opening set but put Mazzara away 7-6 (4), 6-4 for the victory. Granoff moved on to face Middlebury College freshman Noah Farrell in the quarterfinals but fell by a score of 6-1, 6-3. Ryan Bunis ’17 squared off against Trinity College junior Daniel Carpenter in the first round of the A Singles Flight but was downed by a score of 6-4, 6-1.

The squad sent two players to the B Singles Flight, but only one could advance out of the first round. Michael Arguello ’17 defeated Middlebury senior Peter Heidrich 4-6, 7-5 (10-3) to set up a quarterfinal matchup with Tufts University freshman Rohan Gupte. Arguello dropped an intense quarterfinals match to Gupte 6-4, 4-6 (15-13). Eric Miller ’16 could not advance out of his first-round match, falling 6-3, 6-3 in the opening round.

Michael Secular ’15 and Jeffrey Cherkin ’17 both failed to win their first-round matches of the C Singles Flight. Secular fell 6-2, 6-2, and Cherkin lost by a score of 6-2, 6-4. 

The D Singles Flight of the tournament was the harshest for the Judges as all four members of the squad who played in the first round were unable to gain a win. Sam Berg ’18 took a hard-luck 6-7 (3), 6-4 (10-2) loss, dropping his matchup against Middlebury freshman Charlie Oberrender.

The Judges sent three doubles pairs to the A Doubles Flight, though no pair was able to advance out of the first round. The pair of Cherkin and Bunis dropped their match 8-3 while Granoff and Secular opened their year with an 8-4 loss. Arguello and Miller lost 9-7 in their first-round match.

In the B Doubles Flight, neither pair sent by the Judges was able to get by their opponents. 

Middlebury juniors Allen Jackson and Jackson Frons overmatched the pair of Ethan Saal ’18 and Eric Goldberg ’18, defeating the Brandeis pair 8-3. Berg and Ben Fine ’15 were more competitive  but could not pull out a win, losing 8-6 in their first-round match.

The Judges will return to the court this Saturday at 1 p.m. for a home matchup against Colby-Sawyer College.