The women's tennis team entered its annual match against New England No. 14 Bates College, coach Ben Lamanna's alma mater, ranked one seed behind them at No. 15 in New England. The final tally was much more lopsided than the team's rankings indicated.In a matchup between two of the top- ranked teams in the region, the Judges knocked off Bates by an 8-1 count last Saturday and improved the team's record to 8-3. The men's team also hosted Bates last Saturday but lost 8-0. They followed that up with another defeat at Tufts University last Sunday, falling 8-1 to drop to 5-7 on the season.

On the women's side, the Judges jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead after an 8-5 victory by No. 1 doubles pair Rachel Rosman '11 and Mackenzie Gallegos '11 and an 8-1 win by No. 3 doubles pair Ariana Sanai '10 and Emily Weisberger '10. However, the tone of the match was set at No. 2 doubles, where captain Gabrielle Helfgott '09 and Nina Levine '12 were in a tight match against rookies Erika Blauth and Brooke Morse-Karzen.

With every member of both teams watching, the No. 2 doubles match went into a second set tiebreaker after the two sides split the first 16 games.

"We were really pumped because a lot of people were watching, so we just tried to be really aggressive at the net and in a lot of the points, and we didn't really have anything to lose," Levine said. "And knowing that the other doubles teams won really helped us. We played like there was nothing to lose."

With a 4-3 lead in the first-to-seven third-set supertiebreaker, Helfgott came up with two consecutive service winners to put the Judges up 6-3. The first one forced a return by Bates that hit straight back into the net, and the second one was an ace. In the match point when the Judges' pair led 6-4, Levine hit a winner at the net that went straight up the middle to give the lefty partners the victory and put the Judges up 3-0 in the overall competition.

"They played well in the big points, which is how you win tennis matches," Lamanna said.

Levine, a rookie, said being able to win a close match at a high level of competition helped her confidence.

"I had a lot of trouble in the beginning of the year confidence-wise because it's just different from playing in high school," she said. "Playing with [Helfgott], she's a really confident player, so it made me feel a lot more confident knowing that she had confidence in winning the match."

"[Levine] did a good job rising to the occasion and realizing that we just have to focus on each point, and she stayed positive," Helfgott added.

The Judges continued their strong singles play this season, winning five of their six matches. No. 1 Rosman, whom one spectator referred to as "Ross the Boss" during her match, took complete control over senior Caryn Benisch, winning 6-1, 6-1. No. 3 Sanai defeated rookie Meg Anderson 6-2, 6-1; No. 4 Gallegos beat Morse-Karzen 6-2, 6-4; No. 5 Weisberger edged Blauth 6-3, 6-4 and No. 6 Levine knocked off fellow rookie Elizabeth Stege 6-3, 6-3.

The men's squad's struggles continued with the two losses at Tufts last Sunday and at home against Bates last Saturday. The team has now lost its last five matches.

Against Tufts, the Judges were swept in doubles for the fifth consecutive match. The men's team has not won a doubles match since Feb. 23, the last game of its Florida trip. The Judges' lone point against Tufts came courtesy of captain Scott Schulman '09, who defeated sophomore Jake Fountain 7-6 (5), 6-2 at No. 2 singles.

"The guys [have to] toughen up and realize that we're not a team that needs to lose this many matches," Lamanna said. "The schedule is there for a reason; I thought we could have a good season with this schedule, so the guys just [have to] believe it and trust themselves more. That's the bottom line."

The Judges were without No. 1 singles player Steven Nieman '11, who was sick with the flu in both matches.

In last Saturday's match against Bates, with the match outcome already determined and Brandeis trailing 8-0, the No. 6 singles match was canceled Craig Elman '12 was supposed to take on junior Zach Fenno.

Both the men's and women's squads will next compete Sunday at Trinity College. The women's team will play at 10 a.m., followed by the men at 2 p.m.