Despite losing to third-seed and nationally ranked No. 7 Carnegie Mellon University 5-2 in the third-place match at the University Athletic Association Tournament in Pittsburgh, the men's tennis team had its best finish during coach Ben Lamanna's six year tenure over the weekend.On Sunday morning, the Judges, seeded fifth in the tournament, found themselves down 2-1 after doubles against Carnegie Mellon. The Judges' only point in doubles play came at second doubles, in which Steven Milo '13 and Dave Yovanoff '13 won 8-5.

In singles play, the Judges found themselves down 3-1 after Carnegie Mellon senior James Muliwan defeated Milo 6-3, 6-1 at third singles.

Simon Miller '11 brought the match back within one point with an impressive 6-3, 6-2 win at second singles over Tartan junior Bobby MacTaggart. The Judges were put on the brink of defeat, however, when junior Alex Nemerov defeated Nick White '11 7-5, 6-1.

Yovanoff then took on Tartan freshman Duke Miller with the match on the line. Miller went on to win the match 6-2, 5-7, 7-5.

Lamanna expressed how pleased he was with the team despite the loss.

"I was really proud of the boys," said Lamanna. "We got a lot of compliments from the judges, officials and coaches about how we really wanted it. The guys came together and fought hard, and this was the best finish we've had here."

On Saturday afternoon, the Judges lost to first-seed No. 2 Washington University in St. Louis 7-2 in a semifinals match for the rights to play in the championship game.

The squad's lone win came at second doubles. Milo and Yovanoff took the match to a tiebreaker and earned an 8-6 decision for a 9-8 victory.

In singles play, the Judges were defeated at first, second, third and fourth singles without a set win.

In the opening round of the tournament, the Judges defeated fourth-seeded and No. 15 University of Chicago 5-4.

In doubles action, the men put themselves in an early hole, going down 2-1. Fred Rozenshteyn '13 and Michael Tatarsky '12 were the only doubles winners at the third slot.

Trailing early in the match, the Judges dug their hole even deeper with losses at fourth and sixth singles. The Judges scored their second point at fifth singles, once again off Rozenshteyn's racket.

White and Milo played in very matches at first and things singles and were able to bring the Judges back to a tie.

With the score even at 4-4 in matches, the pressure fell on Miller to clinch for Brandeis the come-from-behind victory. In the third set, Chicago sophomore Troy Birnker took the first two- game lead at 5-3, but Miller held off Birnker on two match points and forced a tiebreaker, where he won the match for Brandeis.

Lamanna said that the match was the Judges' best in the tournament.

"You're in the situation where there is one match left on the court and everyone is rowdy and cheering," said Lamanna. "It's a pretty hyper and unbelievable situation, where fitness was a huge factor. Simon just hit some incredible winners and served really big."

Miller was overwhelmed by the atmosphere of the match.

"Honestly, not much was going through my head except to get the ball back in the court and hope he missed it," said Miller. "It was just pure adrenaline."

On Tuesday, the Judges faced the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In the match, which took nearly five hours to complete and spanned two venues, the men fell 5-4 against the No. 26 Engineers.

The women's team defeated Trinity College (Conn.) 7-2 on Saturday in the team's final regular season match. Rachel Rosman '12, Faith Broderick '13, co-captain Ariana Sanai '10 and Nina Levine '12 all went 2-0 on the day.

Summing up the season, Lamanna said he could not have been prouder of both squads.

"We made more progress than we even had, beating nationally ranked teams and doing well in the tournament," said Lamanna. "I think playing the tournament and playing against all of these nationally ranked teams exposed our weaknesses a little, but we've got a majority of our starters back next season and we will be a much more mature team, the men and the women."

With the win, the women finished the season 10-10 and No. 28, while the men closed out their season 9-10.