Even with No. 1 singles and doubles player Rachel Rosman '11 out with a fractured right ankle, the Judges were able to record six strong wins in tournament play last weekend at the New England Women's Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament, the last tournament of the fall. This tournament, co-organized and directed by coach Ben Lamanna, was updated this season to include a feature that most other tournaments lack.

Each school can enter a specified number of teams into the tournament, with each team consisting of two players. Each school can have its top pairs play in the A-flight bracket and its lower-ranked pairs play in the B-flight bracket.

Tournament play matches pairs of teams that play one doubles match and two singles matches; the team that wins at least two out of three matches moves on to the next round.

The Brandeis squad sent four teams to compete at the NEWITT Championships, which took place at both Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass. and Smith College in Northampton, Mass. The first team of Faith Broderick '13, who moved up in place of Rosman, and partner Mackenzie Gallegos '11 opened with a match against Middlebury College's fourth team. In the doubles match, the team fell to a strong Middlebury duo, but in singles play both Broderick and Gallegos recorded wins and sent the Brandeis team to the second round of the A-flight. In the second round, they lost to Williams College's first team 3-0 despite a hard effort and were eliminated from the bracket.

In the B-flight, the Judges entered teams two, three and four. The second team of co-captain Ariana Sanai '10 and Nina Levine '12 played their way into the quarterfinals before being knocked out. With a bye in the round of 64, the team was able to prepare and scout their round of 32 opponent, Colby College's fourth team.

The Judges took the match 2-1 and moved on to the round of 16 to face Wheaton College's second team. In that match, the teams split in singles play and fought their way to victory in the doubles match.

Playing outside in the cold and windy weather, the Judges' team went down 5-2 in the superset before coming back to win the match 8-5, which at that point put them up one match to none, but proved to be the decider after the singles split.

The second team did not advance, losing 3-0 in the round of 16 to Amherst College's seventh team.

"They did well," Lamanna said of the doubles match against Wheaton. "It was a good win. They were down big, but they stormed back to win it."

Lamanna also commended Sanai for her play.

"She showed us what she's made of," he said. "She's super competitive and she's a real battler, and on the court she's a real leader for this team."

Also in B-flight play was Brandeis' third team of co-captain Emily Weisberger '10 and Sarah Richman '12, who battled for a round of 64 victory over Curry College's fourth team 3-0. They went on to lose 2-1 to Babson College's third team in the round of 32.

The women's fourth team, consisting of Jesse Begelfer '12 and Davida Judelson '12, closed out B-flight action with a 3-0 loss to host Mount Holyoke College's fourth team.

In consolation play, the Judges also recorded two wins, along with one loss. The loss came in the A-flight consolation, where the duo of Broderick and Gallegos lost 2-1 to Williams College's third team.

In the B-flight consolation, the Judges' fourth team of Judelson and Begelfer won 3-0 over Suffolk University's fourth team and in the second round consolation bracket, the Judge's third team of Weisberger and Richman defeated Springfield College's fourth team by a score of 3-0.

With the NEWITT Championships in the books, the Judges head into the offseason after an impressive fall season. The squad went 3-0 in dual match play, losing only one out of a total of 27 sets.

Broderick, who was a key component of the team, expressed her satisfaction with the fall results and looked forward to a strong spring season.

"I think how well we did in our dual matches will give us good momentum into out spring matches," Broderick said.

"As long as we keep up our conditioning, we'll be fine," she added.