With the rain storming, the outdoor courts too wet to practice on and last Saturday's home match against Bowdoin College canceled, the women's tennis team arrived at last Sunday's match at Simmons College and sent a strong message in the form of a 9-0 blowout win.The Judges improved their record to 2-0 after they also defeated Wheaton College 8-1.

"[This is] a nice strong start to the season," No. 5 singles Sarah Richman '12 said.

Brandeis dominated the match against Simmons from beginning to end, starting with three solid doubles performances. Rachel Rosman '11 and Mackenzie Gallegos '11 teamed up at No. 1 doubles and defeated the top Simmons team of junior Maile Macleod and rookie Sabrina Salmela, 8-1. Rookie Faith Broderick '12 paired with Richman at No. 2 doubles and won their match over Simmons sophomore Maggie Taylor and freshman Melissa Keroack by the same score.

Ariana Sanai '10 and Nina Levine '12 rounded out the doubles matches with an 8-2 victory over senior Jordan Borash and sophomore Athena Lynch. In total, the doubles team for Brandeis lost only four of 24 games against Simmons.

In singles action, Brandeis nearly swept each match in straight sets, as the team dropped only one set in singles play. Captain Emily Weisberger '09 at No. 4 singles was the only Judge to drop a set. She won the first set easily 6-0, but then fell in the second set 4-6. She recovered from this loss to win the super-tiebreaker 10-8, securing the victory.

At No. 1 singles, Rosman fought through a tough first set against Salmela but cruised in the second, taking the match 7-6, 6-0.

Rosman said that her "mental toughness" allows her to play at a high level, but she can always improve her concentration.

"You really just have to make sure you keep your focus regardless of how each point goes," Rosman said.

In other singles matches, Broderick handled her opponent Macleod at No. 2 singles, 6-0, 6-1. No. 3 Sanai and No. 6 Levine also had strong outings, taking their respective matches 6-3, 6-1 and 6-1, 6-0. Richman had to battle through her singles match at No. 5 singles but still won in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 to wrap up the Brandeis sweep.

Against Wheaton, the only match the Judges dropped was at No. 1 doubles, where Rosman and Gallegos were unable to hold off the Lyons' top pairing of juniors Sarah Geocaris and Catherine Teague. The match was a back-and-forth duel, with both sides playing at high levels of intensity, but in the end Wheaton secured the victory, winning a close decision at 9-8.

Rosman, however, was able to even the odds at No. 1 singles against Geocaris. Rosman won the first set 6-3 and recovered from a 2-6 second-set loss to take the third set 6-2 to win the match. Gallegos also won her match at No. 4 singles, also bouncing back from a 2-6 second-set loss after taking the first 6-4, to win the match in a super-tiebreaker, 6-4, 2-6, 10-4.

"You really just have to go in thinking about it one point at a time," Rosman said. "You just work on winning that one point, and not thinking any further ahead, and as soon as doubles ends, you have to really transition quickly into singles."

Other scores included Broderick's win at No. 2 singles over Teague by a count of 2-6, 6-2, 6-2. Sanai, Weisberger and Richman each took their singles matches in straight sets at No. 3, No. 5 and No. 6, respectively, only dropping a combined 16 games among the three matches.

Brandeis will next compete at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division III Regional Championships hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology starting Sept. 18. The next team match will be at Bentley College Sept. 24.