Saturday morning brought an onslaught of rain and women's tennis players to Brandeis as the Judges faced University Athletic Association (UAA) rival New York University for the first time this season.
Due to inclement weather at the outset of the match, doubles competition was unexpectedly held indoors, where NYU dominated play. NYU won two doubles matches to Brandeis' one.
The sole Brandeis victory in doubles was furnished by captain Vera Chen '03 and Jane Chae '04, who took their number one doubles match 8-4. Brandeis' numbers two and three doubles teams did not fare as well against their NYU matchups. Captain Jill Croen '03 and Abby Lerner '05 were defeated 8-4 and first time pair Ora Wexler '04 and Shani Reich '06 lost 8-5.
"We have good chemistry as a doubles team," Wexler said. "We just need more experience playing together ... The more we play together, the more we'll understand each others' strengths and weaknesses."
Apparently, Brandeis' strength as a team lies predominately in singles play. As the weather cleared, the teams moved outdoors and the Judges came back to win 6-3. The team gave up only one singles match to NYU opponents.
The win was particularly sweet for the Judges because NYU is a member of the same athletic conference as Brandeis. Brandeis is now sure to be seeded ahead of NYU at the UAA Championships.
"NYU brought out a much better team than they did last year," Wexler said.
The manner in which the Judges came back to win the match is also worth mentioning. At the end of three singles matches (numbers one, three and six singles), Brandeis was in a 3-3 tie with NYU. At that point, according to Reich, "the coach came to tell me we were tied 3-3 in matches and that we all really needed to push to win."
Reich and the remaining players, Lerner and Wexler, clearly took Coach Houde's encouragements to heart. Reich went on to give away only one more game, and closed out the match 6-3. Lerner and Wexler each rallied from a set down to win, clinching the match for Brandeis.
"Being part of the team really motivated me to push myself and lift up my game to win," Reich said, explaining the burst of energy that led to her victory. This attitude reflects a spirit of true sportsmanship, evident also in her successes throughout this season; Reich is thus far undefeated in singles competition and is the only freshman currently participating in competitive match play.
Brandeis' win on Saturday brought the Judges' record to 4-2, but after Sunday's disappointing 3-6 loss against Trinity College, the Judges now stand at 4-3.
The tennis team expects continuing success throughout the season."We have a lot of depth in our lineup," Wexler said. "There isn't a big difference between our number one and our number six player."
The Judges will play their rescheduled match versus MIT at home on Wednesday at 4 p.m., and will play Bates at home on Saturday at 12 p.m.