Kicking off the season with two weekend matches, the men's tennis team defeated Hamilton College 6-1 Sunday after losing Saturday's opener at No. 2 ranked Middlebury College 9-0. The women's team also competed Saturday, losing 9-0 to No. 7 Middlebury. Players on the men's team said they were confident during the match against Middlebury, despite opening their season against the second-best team in Division III.

"It was a totally different feeling going into Middlebury," Mike Vulfovich '07 said. "The last three years we went in thinking: 'Wow, they're so good.' This year we went in thinking 'We're going to win this.'"

Adding to the Judges confidence was the return of No. 1 singles star Sam Jonas '07, who was recovering from a torn labrum (a shoulder ligament) injury that happened during last season's finale against Bowdoin College on April 19. Coming out against one of Middlebury captain Ari Beilin was a jarring start to the season for Jonas. He dropped the match 6-1, 6-1.

"It's tough for Jonas to recover mentally as well as physically," coach Ben Lamana said. "He doesn't want to hurt it again so he's not hitting the ball as hard as he could."

Middlebury continued to pressure the Judges in both the singles and doubles competitions, leaving little room for Brandeis to put points on the board. Vulfovich and his doubles partner Scott Schulman '09 battled it out in the No. 2 seat, falling to Middlebury 6-8.

Lamana said that he was impressed with the competitiveness of Vulfovich and Schulman's match.

"[Vulfovich and Schulman] really rose up," Lamana said. "It's really good to see the guys raise their level to the competition based on their opponent."

In No. 2 singles, Vulfovich lost another tight match at 7-6, 6-3.

"[Vulfovich] played top notch," Lamana said. "Hopefully he will realize that that's the level he can play to every time."

On the women's side, No. 1 singles player Jen Krueger '07 came out with a strong 6-3 win in her first set, but lost a 6-4 second set to Middleburry. By the time they reached the third set, Middleburry had already won the overall match, so the third set was decided by a super tiebreaker, which Middlebury won 10-6.

Krueger teamed up with Colleen Donnelly '08 in the No. 1 doubles spot for a long match that ended in an 8-6 win for Middlebury. Donnelly also competed at No. 2 singles, ending her match in a 3-6, 4-6 loss.

Donnelly said that her singles match loss resulted from personal mistakes.

"I wish I was a little more mentally tough because I made some mental errors early on and I hurt myself that way," Donnelly said.

Gabrielle Helfgott '09 stepped into the No. 3 singles spot for the Middlebury match, ending the day with a 3-6, 0-6 loss. Coach Ben Lamana said he was pleased with the rookie's performance.

"[Helfgott] is starting to realize what type of player she could be and that's really good for a first-year player," said Lamana. "I'm really impressed with how well she has adapted to college-level play."

Although they said they were well prepared, the women acknowledged that facing Middlebury for their first full match in three months was an intimidating hurdle.

"It's hard having to share the gym with all the other sports; a practice lasts one hour and 15 minutes and a match takes about two hours, so even if we wanted to try to get a full practice match in, we'd have to try to do it on Saturday," captain Shani Reich '06 said.

Lamana echoed Reich.

"We're just not as match-tough as we should be," he said. "The only way we can get the confidence to play tough matches is by playing tough matches. Middlebury gave us that."

While the women did not play Sunday, the men's team stayed at Middlebury to compete against Hamilton College. Even though the easier competition suited them well, a change in the second day to a court with a Hard True surface provided another obstacle.

"We train on fast courts in Gosman, so it's a big change," Lamana said. "It's a different type of game. The guys had to develop points and play a little more of a chess match rather than bang-bang tennis."

The top four singles players came out strong, posting definitive wins over their competition. At No. 2, Vulfovich defeated Hamilton's Reid Snyder 6-3, 6-1. Jordan Bieber '07 and Cliff Silverman '07 also finished out their matches in the first two sets at No. 3 and No. 4 singles, respectively. Jonas won the No. 1 singles competition 6-2, 6-0.

"[Jonas] played a tremendous match today," Lamana said. "He didn't give his opponent a shot."

The biggest comeback of the day came from Scott Schulman '09 at No. 5 singles, who was celebrating his birthday. He lost his first set 3-6 before recouping to win the next two sets 6-1 and 10-7.

The Judges controlled the doubles competition, with Bieber and Jonas winning 8-4 at No.1, Schulman and Vulfovich posting an 8-5 win at No. 2, and Chris Hersel '06 and Silverman coming in with an 8-4 victory at No. 3.

"We pretty much dominated the whole day," Lamana said. "It was exactly what we needed."

Looking ahead to the rest of the season, Lamana has plenty of the short- and long-term goals for the squad that will, "be laying the foundation" for the program according him.

"It's going to take some time to get this program to where I want it to be," Lamana said. "The guys know that and they know they're the start of something really special."

The women face Smith College at home this Tuesday, and the men will battle it out with Skidmore college at home on Wednesday.