As schools from throughout the Northeast arrived for the Nor'Easter Bowl this weekend, the women's tennis team had a prime opportunity to distance itself from the regional competition while playing at home. The Judges started with a tough loss against Trinity College to begin the weekend, but came back the next two days to finish fifth overall.

The Judges took down No.28 Mary Washington College last Sunday to secure its top five finish. Mary Washington got off to an ideal start, as Carly Cooke '15 fell to junior Lindsey Raulston 6-3, 6-1. Things continued to look troubling for the Judges when freshman Shelby Harris defeated Faith Broderick '13 7-5, 6-4.

"The defeat on Friday was definitely tough, but we kept a good team culture going into the rest of the weekend," said Maya Vasser '16. "We went into Saturday's match knowing we were going to play Bates, a team we had already beaten in a close 5-4 match. After, we had a very positive attitude and a will to fight for every match. We knew we wanted to win so we fought till we did."

Allyson Bernstein '14 got a crucial 6-3, 6-2 win against senior Cassie Bowman to initiate a vital comeback. After going down in the first set, Roberta Bergstein '14 was able to initiate a crucial rally against sophomore Alex Ritter and gave the Judges a much-needed win by a score of 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Simone Vandroff '15 also made a critical comeback to give Brandeis its third win of the day, topping freshman Chrissy Gaul by a score of 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. Mary Washington gained some ground when Alexa Katz '14 fell to Paige Weinberg by a 6-4, 7-6 margin. Cooke and Broderick gave the Judges a fourth win, just one away from 5th place in the tournament, by defeating Raulston and Harris 8-6.

Vandroff and Bergstein sealed the deal for the Judges following an 8-3 defeat of Bowman and Ritter. Dylan Schlesinger '15 and Vasser rounded out the match with an 8-5 victory.
The Judges began their surge, though, the previous day against Bates College. Cooke secured a commanding 6-1, 6-0 win over sophomore Elena Mandzhukova. Broderick had an equally dominant win over senior Jacquelyn Holmes, prevailing by a 6-0, 6-2 margin. Bernstein continued the onslaught, defeating senior Ashley Brunk 6-2, 6-1. Bergstein gave the Judges their fourth win of the match, as she defeated junior Lucy Brennan 6-4, 6-2.

Senior Nicole Russel scored Bates' first win over Katz by a tight margin with a score of 2-6, 6-4, 10-6. Sophomore Audrey Grauer followed quickly with another victory over Vasser by a 7-5, 2-6, (10-3) margin. Cooke and Broderick quelled any hopes of a comeback, securing the win for the Judges in an 8-5 defeat of Mandzhukova and Brunk, Vandroff and Bergstein also defeated Holmes and junior Lucy Brennan, 8-5. 

Though Russell and Dorer beat Brandeis' Schlesinger and Vasser, the Judges ultimately pulled out the win 6-3 win, and a chance to battle for the fifth spot in the tournament.
Last Friday proved to be a much different story. The Judges suffered a tough loss at the hands of Trinity by a score of 7-2. Cooke lost in straight sets to freshman Melita Frejanic 6-4, 6-2.

Hillary Hoyt took Broderick by the exact same score of 6-4, 6-2. Freshman Morgan Feldman continued to underscore Trinity's dominance by defeating Bernstein in straight sets.

Vandroff had the strongest showing of the day for the Judges, earning a hard fought 7-5 win in the first set against junior Regan Cherna. The momentum of Vandroff's 7-5 first set helped immensely in her victory. Bergstein lost to junior Senzo Maphaisa in straight sets by a score of 6-1, 6-1. Katz had a chance to hold Trinity off its fifth win against senior Frances Cameron. Despite Katz's comeback in the second set, Cameron won the tie-breaking set 9-7, making the total score 6-4, 6-7 (7-3), 9-7.

In doubles, Cooke and Broderick defeated Hoyt and Ferjanic 8-6. However, the teams of Feldman and Maphisa as well as Cherna and junior Elizabeth Gerber defeated the teams of Vandroff and Bergstein, as well as Bernstein and Lazar, by 8-6, and 8-3 scores, respectively.

With big matches coming up, Vasser said the team is focused on continuity and consistency.

"Going into the last month of our season we are going to keep that up. April is a big month for us, we have multiple matches every week. Staying healthy, keeping our energy high, and our will to fight strong are very important."

The Judges will look to build upon their momentum tomorrow against Wellesley College at 3:00 p.m.