The men's and women's tennis teams endured a tough stretch of matches this past week, culminating in resonant defeats at Trinity College on Sunday.

The men fell to the Bantams 8-1, while the No. 24 women dropped a 7-2 decision to the No. 21 hosts.

Last Saturday, the women fell to No. 23 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 6-3 after defeating Wellesley College 9-0 on Wednesday.

"Outdoors is very different than indoors," said Maya Vasser '16 of the transition from inside play to Brandeis' Rieger Tennis Courts. "The courts inside are very fast, so the transition to outdoors, we had to focus on getting our rhythm back on a slower surface. When it comes to matches outdoors, it's a very different paced game."

In the men's match against Trinity, the Bantams got off to a fast start, as sophomore Daniel Carpenter downed Steven Milo '13 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 at first singles. Classmate Ned Mandel downed Josh Jordan '13 at second singles.

Third singles saw junior Kayong Lee defeat Dave Yovanoff '13 3-6, 6-0, 6-1. Sophomore Ilya Levin continued the streak, beating Alec Siegel '15, 6-0, 6-3 and freshman Ford Traff downed Michael Secular '15 6-4, 6-2. The last singles match saw Trinity complete its singles sweep, as sophomore Musyoka Mbithi beat Danny Lubarsky '13 7-6, 3-6, 6-2.

The first doubles matches resulted in a win for Bantam sophomore David Myers and Mbithi over Milo and Yovanoff 9-8, 9-6.

 However, the Judges did pick up their first success at second doubles, as Siegel and Krems downed Mandel and Levin 8-5. However, Trinity compounded the Judges' misery at third doubles, as Traff and Lee beat Secular and Lubarsky 8-6.
The women were slightly more successful than the men against the Bantams. They got off to a bright start, as Carley Cooke '15 beat freshman Melita Ferjanic at first singles 6-2, 4-6, 6-1. However, second singles saw senior Hillary Hoyt beat Faith Broderick '13 6-4, 4-6, 6-0.

Trinity then swept the next four singles matches, as freshman Morgan Feldman defeated Allyson Bernstein '14 5-7, 6-1, 6-1, junior Regan Cherna beat Simone Vandroff '14 6-2, 6-1, junior Senzo Maphisa overcame Roberta Bergstein '14 6-1, 6-2 and senior Frances Cameron downed Alexa Katz '14 in three sets by a score of 6-1, 4-6, 10-8.

Despite the fact that the Judges ultimately fell to MIT, Saturday's matchups had slightly more parity. After junior Lauren Quisenberry downed Cooke at first singles, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5, the Judges swept the next two matches, as Broderick beat sophomore Vynnie Kong 7-6 (7-2), 6-1 and Bernstein beat senior Candace Wu 6-0, 6-1.

The next three matches yielded success for the visitors, as sophomore Michelle Dutt beat Vandroff 4-6, 6-4, 10-8, freshman Meghana Vasireddy beat Bergstein 6-2, 7-5 and freshman Irish Zhuang downed Vasser 6-1, 6-0.

Quisenberry and junior Julia Hsu defeated Broderick and Cooke at first doubles.

Then, at second doubles, sophomore Michelle Dutt and freshman Sunnie Lampl downed Bergstein and Vandroff 8-3. Third doubles saw the Judges gain a modicum of consolation despite the impending defeat, when Bernstein and Marissa Lazar '14 beat Kong and Vasireddy in dominating fashion, 8-3.

Against Wellesley, the Judges faced a shorthanded squad and won three matches by default. For good measure, though, the team won all six matches it contested.

Cooke beat sophomore Sojung Lee 7-5, 6-1 at first singles. Second singles featured a 6-1, 6-1 victory from Bernstein over freshman Suzanne Barth. Vasser beat junior Kendall Tada 4-6, 6-1, 10-5 at third singles before Sarita Biswas '16 claimed victory over senior Elena Bowen 6-1, 6-2 at fourth singles.

Doubles yielded more success, as Broderick and Cooke beat Lee and Barth 8-4 at first doubles and Bergstein and Vandroff downed Tada and Bowen at second doubles.

With the team switching to outdoor play, Vasser added that there is a psychological boost for the players from playing on an outdoor surface, which will help the Judges as their season continues.

"The match doesn't take as long, and everybody gets to play at the same time," Vasser said. "It's more fun playing singles when five of your teammates are playing alongside you."
Both teams are back in action this week. The men will play matches on successive days, hosting Clark University on Friday at 3 p.m., before both teams travel to Bowdoin College on Saturday to take on the Polar Bears.