The men and women’s tennis team returned to New England last weekend with four games against regional opponents, though neither squad was able to pick up a victory. The women’s squad, ranked 26th nationally, dropped a pair of 9-0 decisions to the No. 16 Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Friday and No. 10 Middlebury College on Sunday. The men, 33rd in the country, fell 7-2 to No. 3 Middlebury on Saturday and 5-3 to No. 29 Stevens Institute of Technology on Sunday.

The men took two of three doubles matches against Stevens on Sunday but were unable to carry that momentum into the singles play, dropping four of five completed matches en route to the 5-3 defeat. The duo of Eric Miller ’16 and Brian Granoff ’17 began the day with an 8-4 victory over counterparts from Stevens, followed by a matching 8-4 victory by Michael Arguello ’17 and Jeff Cherkin ’17. 

In singles play, Granoff fell in straight sets to Stevens junior Matthew Heinrich on the No. 1 court. Heinrich, who earned All-America nHonors last year, took the match 7-6, 7-6. The squad got its only singles victory on the No. 2 court, where Arguello earned a straight-set victory over Stevens junior Ben Foran, 6-2, 6-2. 

Granoff recognized the hard competition that he was up against. “Going up against big hitters at 1, I have to do a better job of absorbing pace and not just being pushed around the court. The fact that Heinrich was an All-American didn’t change that.” The Judges picked up their only points against Middlebury on Saturday courtesy of victories by Arguello and Alec Siegel ’15. 

Arguello needed a tie-breaker in the first set to claim victory, 7-6 (8), 6-4. Siegel, playing on the No. 4 court, was taken to a third set after claiming the opening set but walked away with a 6-2, 2-6, 10-8 victory. Though the women’s squad dropped identical 9-0 decisions over the weekend, they were up against a number of All-Americans on the singles courts.

Carley Cooke ’15 dropped a battle of All-Americans on the No. 1 court with Middlebury junior Ria Genger on Sunday, falling in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2. On the No. 2 court, Simone Vandroff ’15 was faced with a matchup against Middlebury sophomore Alexandra Fields. Vandroff was able to steal a pair of points from the All-American but fell in straight sets, 6-2, 6-0. On Friday, Cooke was matched with MIT sophomore Elysa Khors on the No. 1 court and could not defeat the All-American, falling in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2. Maya Vasser ’16 went on a run on the No. 4 court,but fell in straight sets to MIT freshman Dora Tzeng, 6-1, 6-3. 

In doubles play, Cooke and Haley Cohen ’18 battled MIT, but fell in a tiebreaker, dropping the match 9-8 (0). The Judges sent two of the three doubles matches to tiebreakers, as the duo of Charlotte Aaron ’18 and Sarita Biswas ’16 fell 9-8 (1). 

Granoff and the team are looking forward to the rest of the season. “Mentally, we just all—as a team —need to regroup and refocus. We have our home opener against Coast Guard and then a great opportunity against another ranked team in Wesleyan.” Both squads will return to action this weekend, traveling to Wesleyan College (Conn.) on Friday, where the women begin at 1 p.m and men square off at 4 p.m.

—Editor’s note: Alec Siegel ‘15 is a staff member for the Justice Features Section.