While the men's and women's tennis teams have yet to face off against University Athletic Association rivals, they tested themselves last weekend against strong New England Small College Athletic Conference foes.

Hosting all of their matches this weekend indoors at the Gosman Sports and Recreation Center, the No. 23 women downed No. 29 Bates College 5-4 last Saturday. The men, however, fell to Tufts University by a score of 5-4 on Saturday, while they also lost to No. 21 Bates on Friday 7-2.
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"When you're playing good teams-like Bates, who is number 21 in the country, for example-the windows to win aren't very big," said head coach Ben Lamanna of the men's performance. "You might get a few points here and there. We got swept in doubles and lost two tiebreakers. We got closer versus Tufts; we're improving our level of competing but that doesn't mean that we're going to get it done. We've got to learn to step up in the big moments."
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Given that the women's match took nearly seven hours, it would be safe to say that there was no shortage of excitement.
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Faith Broderick '13 and Maya Vasser '16 won their match at first doubles 8-4, but  second doubles yielded the first loss of the day for the Judges, as Alexa Katz '14 and Marissa Lazar '14 fell 8-5. Third doubles yielded a similar result, as Dylan Schlesinger '15 and Sarita Biswas '16 lost a tough 9-7 decision, leaving the Judges down 2-1 going into singles action.
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Playing at first singles, Broderick downed Bates sophomore Elena Mandzhukova 6-2, 6-2.
Katz took her match at second singles against senior Ashley Brunk by a score of 7-5, 7-6, (7-3). 
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Bates junior Lucy Brennan took the match at third singles over Vasser 6-2, 6-0, while Bobcats senior Nicole Russell beat Schlesinger 6-1, 6-2 at fourth singles. 
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With Bates only needing one singles victory to win, a pair of first-years won their matches at the last two singles spots to give the Judges an unlikely victory. 
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Emily Eska '16 bucked the trend of Bates wins, downing Bobcats sophomore Audrey Grauer at fifth singles 7-6 (7-4), 6-0, while Hannah Marion '16 sealed the win by beating junior Kristin Doerer 6-4, 6-3.
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"The girls do a heck of a job training for that kind of stuff," said Lamanna of the women's ability to perform throughout the long day. "They work a lot, getting ready for matches like that. It was a long day with three indoor courts. We got down 4-2 and we came back. Emily Eska took charge at number five singles, and Hannah Marion was unbelievable at sixth singles."
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The men's match against Tufts followed a similar nature. The duo of Josh Jordan '13 and Steven Milo '13 won 8-5 at first doubles. 
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Jumbos senior Mark Westerfield and freshman Nick Telkedzhiev downed Mitch Krems '16 and AlecSiegel '15 at second doubles by a score of 8-4, and Danny Lubarsky '16 and David Yovanoff '16 took their match at third doubles with a 9-8 (7-5) victory.
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Holding a 2-1 lead going into singles action, Milo took his match against Tufts senior Ben Barad by a score of 7-5, 6-4. Telkedzhlev then downed Jordan 5-7, 6-4, 1-6, while senior Andrew Lutz beat Krems at third singles 6-0, 6-3. 
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Siegel then restored some parity by beating junior Austin Blau 1-6, 6-4, 6-4, but Tufts sealed the win when freshman Rob Jacobson downed Yovanoff by a score of 7-6 (7-3), 4-6, 6-3. Lubarsky lost to Jumbos sophomore Brian Tan at sixth singles 7-5, 6-4.
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Though not quite as close as Saturday's match, last Friday's match against Bates proved to have many close points. At first doubles, Jordan and Milo dropped a 9-8 (7-5) loss to a pair of All-Americans-seniors Matt Bettles and Rob Crampton. Junior Tim Berg and sophomore Pierre Planche downed Krems and Siegel 8-4 at second doubles. Bates completed the sweep in doubles by having junior Ben Bogard and sophomore Henry Lee beat Lubarsky and Yovanoff 9-8 (7-4). 
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Milo then picked up a big win at first singles, gaining a measure of revenge by downing Crampton 7-6 (12-10), 6-1. Bettles then defeated Jordan 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-1 at second singles, before junior Timmy Berg beat Krems 6-4, 7-6 (9-7) in the third singles matchup. 
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Planche compounded the Judges' misery at fourth singles, handing Yovanoff a 6-1, 6-2 loss at fourth singles. Fifth singles saw Lee beat Michael Secular '15 6-3, 6-4, while Siegel downed Bogard, 8-6, at sixth singles.
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Moving forward, Lamanna is eager to see how his teams compete against new opponents.
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"We'll be playing a couple of good teams over spring break," he said. "They should be good matches and we should have good chances to win them. It's time for us to step up."
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Both teams will receive a stern test later this week from cross-town rival Bentley University. The women will take on the Falcons at home on Thursday at 3 p.m., while the men will do battle on Friday at home at the same time.