Despite the huge disparity in their records this season, both the men's and women's tennis teams met the same fate last Saturday as each dropped their matches at Trinity College. The women's team lost a close match 5-4, dropping the squad to 8-4 on the season and snapping its two-match winning streak. The men's team was swept 9-0 by the No. 12 nationally-ranked Bantams, putting them at 5-8 on the season and adding to their losing streak, which now stands at six matches.

The women's squad held a 2-1 lead after doubles play, but losses in four out of six singles matches ultimately led to its defeat.

"Usually I love our chances going up 2-1 in doubles, but it wasn't [the case]. [Trinity] played a really good match," coach Ben Lamanna said.

The No. 2 doubles pairing of captain Gabrielle Helfgott '09 and Nina Levine '12 picked up right where they left off with their second-set doubles tiebreaker win against Bates College last week, knocking off Trinity junior Olivia Merns and sophomore Robyn Williams 8-5. No. 3 doubles partners Ariana Sanai '10 and Emily Weisberger '10 won their match in a second-set tiebreaker, beating sophomores Arielle Leben and Jillian Steckloff 8-7 (8-6). The lone loss at doubles for the Judges came at the No. 1 slot, where Rachel Rosman '11 and Mackenzie Gallegos '09 fell to seniors Amanda Tramont and Sarah Gould 8-3.

In singles, while No. 1 Rosman was able to knock off Tramont 6-3, 6-4 and No. 2 Helfgott beat Leben 6-1, 6-4, the Judges could not get a victory from any of the other four singles matches.

No. 3 Sanai lost to Gould 6-2, 6-2; No. 4 Gallegos fell to Steckloff 6-2, 6-4; No. 5 Weisberger dropped her match to Williams 6-1, 6-1; and No. 6 Levine was handled by Merns, 6-2, 6-0.

"I think our team battled well on the singles court, but we're used to winning those key matches in singles, and it just didn't happen," Helfgott said.

Lamanna described the Trinity women's players as being "pushers," meaning they focus less on making aggressive shots and more on placing the ball on the court and prolonging each point.

"They just make you work," Lamanna said. "They keep the ball in play a lot."

Helfgott said that Trinity's ability to dictate the pace of the singles matches and play out long rallies played a huge role in the outcome of the match.

"In singles, it's very easy to get lost," she said. "If you're having a tough time, you're by yourself. There's no other partner on the court, so I'd like to see our team stick to our guidelines on the singles court more, because I think that the matches that we're losing on the singles courts are basically from giving the opponents a chance to make us play their game."

On the men's side, the squad was swept for the third time in its last five matches.

"We're taking our lumps, but the guys are doing a good job of staying fairly positive and taking things away from each match, and I give them credit," Lamanna said. "There [are] no excuses out there; they're playing hard. Their confidence is a little down, clearly, but they continue to work hard."

In doubles, the closest match saw the No. 1 duo of Simon Miller '11 and captain Scott Schulman '09 lose to junior Spencer Feldman and senior co-captain David Yahng 8-6. No. 2 pairing Mayur Kasetty '11 and Craig Elman '12 were swept in their match 8-0 while No. 3 tandem Seth Rogers '10 and Josh Bookman '12 were also were blown out 8-1.

The Bantams dominated singles play. No. 1 singles player Miller was the only Brandeis player to win more than two games in a set, falling to Feldman in three sets 6-3, 5-7, 7-5. No. 2 Schulman lost to rookie Anson McCook 6-0, 6-2; No. 3 Rogers was swept by senior co-captain Gautam Samarth 6-0, 6-0; No. 4 Kasetty lost to Yahng 6-1, 6-0; No. 5 Bookman fell to junior Nick White 6-1, 6-2; and No. 6 Elman was defeated by junior Adam Lanza 6-1, 6-1.

"The bottom line is [Trinity is] a top-15 team in the country, and we were overmatched," Lamanna said.

However, Lamanna said the team would benefit from playing such tough competition.

"We don't mind playing those really good teams," he said. "We're going to get better because of it."

The women's team's match scheduled today at Babson College and the men's team's home match against Babson originally scheduled for tomorrow were both postponed due to a campuswide virus that forced Babson to cancel all athletic events and other school operations until at least tomorrow, according to The Associated Press.

The men's team will instead host Babson April 6 at 3 p.m. The women's match at Babson has not yet been rescheduled.

The women's team will next compete at Wellesley College April 7 at 3:30 p.m.

The men's squad will play at Amherst College Saturday at 10 a.m.