The women's tennis home opener on Thursday told a positive story. All the top players competed, avoiding the injury bug and leading Brandeis to an 8-1 victory over Bentley University. Even as the team was riding high into the match, sustaining a No. 25 ranking, the Judges managed to stay focused and dominate their lower-ranked opponent.

"We go into every match with a 'fear none, respect all' attitude," said Allyson Bernstein '14. "We all had specific things we are working on, so playing our game plus working on incorporating new strategies helped us to focus."

The Judges began the match with quite the statement, as Carley Cooke '15 and Faith Broderick '13 routed their opponents 8-1. The other two doubles ended in he same manner, as each Brandeis doubles squads came away with 8-1 victories.

No. 1 Cooke started off singles play with a 6-3, 6-1 victory. Alexa Katz '14, at the No. 4 hole, clinched the match with Brandeis' fifth victory in a 6-0, 6-2 win. At No. 6, Jill Martin '15, in just her third career match, defeated Bentley freshman Stephania Adonakis 6-3, 7-5 in the closest win of the day.

After winning an 8-1 doubles match with Marissa Lazar '14 earlier in the day, Bernstein won her singles match 6-2. The lone loss came at the hands of Bentley junior Katie Van Gilst. After she teamed up with Katz in the doubles competition, Dylan Schlesinger '15 lost a close single match by scores of 7-6, (7-4), 6-3.

Despite being a very young team, the Judges' play this year has catapulted them to regional and national prominence. The team has just one senior and one junior and boasts four sophomores and four freshmen.

Regardless, Bernstein is very confident in the team's ability to succeed due to great chemistry and perseverance.

"We have a really strong culture," she said. "It makes matches easier, knowing an entire team stands behind you. It has helped us win matches."

On the other hand, injury plagued the men's tennis team, leading to a flurry of roster moves that dramatically altered the pecking order. With three of their top players gone, Josh Jordan '13 moved up to the No. 1 slot and Alec Siegel '15 then jumped from the No. 4 spot to the No. 2 spot. This would be an ominous development for the Judges, as they suffered a 7-2 loss in their home opener to Bentley Universitylast Wednesday. With the defeat, the team drops to 2-5.

The Judges did not start the match well, ultimately losing all three doubles matches. Siegel and Michael Secular '15, who usually play the No. 3 doubles match, were called up to the big stage in the No. 1 slot. The duo performed admirably, taking Bentley to the wire, but ultimately losing 8-6.

Filling in at number one for singles, Jordan played an incredibly tight match.

After falling in the first set 6-2, he took the second set 6-4 and proceeded to win the super tiebreaker 10-7 to take the match. Siegel was even more impressive at No. 2, breezing past Bentley sophomore Zach Tuckman 6-1, 6-4 in his first match in the slot.

However, Brandeis failed to win any singles matches after impressive victories at the top two slots.

No. 3 Secular lost 6-3, 6-3, Mike DeFeo '14 fell to his opponent 6-4, 6-3 and Matthew Zuckerman '14 lost 6-2, 6-2.

After a hard-fought victory in the first set, No. 4 Adam Brown '14 lost his momentum and eventually fell in the closest match of the day, 6-7 (8-10), 6-4, and 10-7.

The men's tennis team travels to Babson College tomorrow, while the women will also travel to face off against Babson this Saturday.

*