The tone of the women's tennis team's spring season opener against Division I Colgate University at home last Saturday was defined in the No. 1 doubles match: an early deficit, a brief comeback, but a loss in the end. After falling behind 5-2 against Colgate juniors Elise DeRose and Cameron Williams, Rachel Rosman '11 and captain Gabrielle Helfgott '09 were able to cut the score to 5-4. They were then were just a point away from tying the match but ended up losing the next three points of the game and ultimately the set and match 8-4.

The Judges went on to lose to Colgate 7-2, dropping their season record to 2-1 after two victories in the shorter fall season.

"[This was our] first match of the year," head coach Ben Lamanna said. "We have a lot of room to improve, and I think that's a good thing."

Brandeis fell behind early, as the Judges were swept in all three doubles matches. No. 2 doubles partners Mackenzie Gallegos '11 and Sarah Richman '12 fell 8-5 to Colgate's pair of seniors, captain Erin Fenn and Cameron Thaney, while No. 3 doubles partners Ariana Sanai '10 and Emily Weisberger '10 dropped their match 8-2 to rookies Alexandra Erickson and Stephanie Brown.

Once again, Brandeis players rallied, allowing the team to cut the overall deficit to one after singles victories by No. 1 Rosman, 6-2, 6-3, over DeRose, and No. 3 Sanai, 6-3, 6-3, against Fenn.

"Two folks that came to play clearly, I thought, were [Rosman] and [Sanai]," Lamanna said. "Just dominant performances."

For Rosman, a quick shift in focus helped key her singles victory over DeRose, who had defeated her in the No. 1 doubles match.

"I had to put behind what happened in doubles and just move on," she said. "I just had to shift focus to my next match," she said.

However, despite cutting Colgate's overall lead to 3-2, the Judges would not win another match, dropping their last four singles contests.

"Overall, we were just a little too choppy," Lamanna said. "We just weren't out there playing real consistent tennis in the key points. A couple of key mistakes on big points, that's all it was."

Helfgott, Gallegos, Weisberger and Richman were all swept in their matches. Helfgott lost 7-5, 6-3 at No. 2 singles, Gallegos fell 6-1, 6-4 at No. 4 singles, Weisberger dropped her match 6-2, 6-1 at No. 5 singles, and Richman came up short, losing 6-4, 6-3 at No. 6 singles.

"We need to not let the points we lose get to us. We need to stay positive on the court and believe that we can compete at this level," Sanai said. "Colgate was definitely a team that I think we could beat, or I don't think the score was a reflection that they were that much better than us by any means."

Last Saturday's match was the Judges' first since Oct. 14, 2008, the last match of the fall season, when they defeated Simmons College at home 6-3.

"I was really excited to get back into playing matches," Rosman said. "You have a while off at the end of the fall and then at the beginning of the spring, so it was really exciting to be competing again."

Overall, Lamanna said he was satisfied with the team's performance, especially since Colgate was a Division I opponent.

"We were right there," he said. "Early in the season, a lot of the girls haven't played a ton of matches yet, and that's exactly why we played this match, because it's a good quality [Division I] opponent in the middle of a [Division III] league."

Both the women's and men's teams will next compete Feb. 18, when they travel to Orlando, Fla. to square off against Webber International University at 1 p.m.