The men's and women's tennis teams traveled to Middlebury, Vt. for a tournament last weekend, after hosting Bentley College earlier in the week. Both squads fared well, losing only to host Middlebury College on their way to 3-1 and 2-1 records, respectively. The men's team is now 5-3 on the season, while the women's team is 6-3.
The men's team had three matches at Middlebury. They shut out Connecticut College 9-0 last Saturday night, winning every match against the Camels.
"It was pretty impressive," coach Ben Lamanna said of the win. "We were really happy about that."
Against Middlebury the night before, the men's team struggled and dropped 8-1. Lamanna said that the team had trouble early, which made it difficult to bounce back.
"We had opportunities in doubles, but it came down to a few loose service games and that set the whole tone," he said. "Being down 3-0 after doubles is difficult. We feel that we have a good enough doubles team that we can beat anyone."
Rookie Mike DeFeo '14 said that Middlebury was a tough matchup for the Judges.
"Middlebury is a really well-trained team," he said. "When you give them an inch they take full advantage of it. A little loss of focus could cost us the match-and that's exactly what happened."
Against the State University of New York College at Oneonta the day before, the Judges won 8-1, dropping just a singles match. Led by the No. 17 doubles pair of Simon Miller '11 and Nick White '11, all three doubles pairs cruised to victories. Brandeis also grabbed the first four singles matches before Josh Jordan '13 dropped the tiebreaker in the fifth singles spot.
Earlier in the week, the Judges hosted Bentley, defeating their rivals 7-2. Miller and White struggled in the first doubles spot, but they were avenged by the second and third teams. Miller and White won their singles matches, but Steven Milo '13 dropped in the third slot for the Judges' other loss. Jordan, Ezra Bernstein '11 and Adam Brown '14 picked up their matches, sealing the win for the Judges.
While noting that the men had room for improvement, Lamanna said that he was pleased with the team's performance.
"Overall, the men had a pretty good weekend," he said.
"We have the pieces and we're doing really well," White added.
The women's team also shut out Connecticut College, winning 9-0. The doubles teams cruised through the contest, and all six singles positions won their matches in straight sets.
Against Middlebury, however, the No. 30 Judges faltered against the No. 12 Panthers, falling 8-1. The lone victory for the Judges was in the third doubles position, where the tandem of Roberta Bergstein '14 and Alexa Katz '14 won 8-4.
"They're doing a great job," Lamanna said of the rookie tandem. "It's scary to put two freshman at doubles, but they complement each other pretty well. [Bersgstein] is explosive, and [Katz] has a really good serve. So far, they've been pretty fearless. That was a good win for them."
Overall, Lamanna said that the team did a good job of keeping things close against Middlebury but just wasn't able to pull out the wins.
"There were some close matches, but we only had 1 point," he said. "We were at their place and they were aggressive, and we had a tough time."
Last Wednesday, the Judges cruised past Bentley, defeating the Falcons 9-0. Brandeis got off to a fast start with Rachel Rosman '11 and Faith Broderick '13 easily winning the first doubles spot. Brandeis never looked back, and handed Bentley its first loss of the season.-Natalie Shushan contributed reporting.