The Brandeis men's tennis team scored a huge win over the Massachusetts Institute of Technology last Friday, defeating its second ranked opponent in a week, and will likely move up in the rankings from their current No. 30 position, despite a tough loss to Trinity College in its next match on Sunday.The women's tennis team also fell to Trinity, falling 5-4 in a close contest.

"It was a great match; the guys came and fought hard together," coach Ben Lamanna said of the men's team's win over MIT. "It was a really even match and a big win for our program and these guys. We played well together and off momentum, and they wanted it more than MIT."

The men defeated MIT 6-3, overcoming a 2-1 deficit in doubles action with five victories in singles matches. Engineers freshman Edwin Zhang and sophomore Matthew Skalak defeated Steven Nieman '11 and Dave Yovanoff '13 8-5, sophomores Brian Oldfield and Andrew Cooper beat Ezra Bernstein '11 and Josh Jordan '13 8-5, and Simon Miller '11 and Nick White '11 picked up Brandeis' only doubles win, defeating freshman Curtis Wu and sophomore Larry Pang 8-6.

In singles action, Brandeis dominated. White took down Pang 7-5, 6-0 in the two seed, Yovanoff came back to beat Oldfied 3-6, 7-6, 6-3; Bernstein beat Skalak 6-7, 6-4, 7-5; Jordan took down Cooper 6-7, 7-5, 7-5; and Nieman defeated freshman Vlad Firiou 4-6, 7-6, 10-0 to round out an impressive day in the singles competition for Brandeis.

"It was a big step up, first time this group has beaten Bates and MIT," Lamanna said. "We're gonna move up to early 20s, so the guys are excited, and it's a big step for our program."

However, the men were not as successful against Trinity, and the squad fell 7-2 in a disheartening loss. The Judges lost the three doubles matches 2-1, but Miller was well on his way to tying the score as he was dominating in the first singles seed. Unfortunately, Miller was up 6-0, 1-0, when he hurt his knee and was forced to retire. The Judges fell behind 3-1, and never recovered.

"That was a big blow for momentum as he was dominating his match, and we were down 3-1 and had a tough time turning it around," said Lamanna.

The girls were also unsuccessful at defeating Trinity. The women fell 5-4 in a tough grind-it-out match.

"We got upset today. Tough loss, I'd say, we fought hard, but we got outplayed," said Lamanna. "It was a team loss today, we all didn't do a good enough job, and that's tough."

The teams split the six singles matches, but the Judges lost two of the three doubles matches, leading to the Trinity victory. Faith Broderick '13 was the only Brandeis player to win both her doubles and singles matches, teaming with Rachel Rosman '11 for an 8-2 win in first doubles and defeating Trinity senior Arielle Leben 6-0, 6-1 in second singles.

"I think it's a hiccup. We have a big match [versus] Wellesley [College], and the ladies will have another chance to play against an opponent where the match won't be decided by that much. We have to find a way to make it happen," said Lamanna.

The men are next in action against Division I Bryant College today and host the University Athletic Association Tournament starting Friday.

"Hosting the UAAs will be phenomenal. There will be some great teams, and hopefully the guys will feed off each match and build momentum," said Lamanna.

The women play Wellesley on Wednesday.