After the men's and women's tennis teams both surged to a
No. 24 national ranking, the Judges failed to find success in their weekend matches at home, stumbling to a combined 0-3 record for the week.

Both teams had their work cut out for them heading into the weekend. The women fell to No. 7 ranked Bowdoin College 5-3 on Sunday and to No. 14 ranked Trinity College 5-4 on Saturday while the men struggled against No. 12 Bowdoin on Saturday in a 6-2 loss.

Sunday's match at Babson College, however, was cancelled for the men due to inclement weather.

With the losses, the women drop to 3-7 overall while the men fall to 5-4 overall on the season.

The women, in a home match against Bowdoin on Sunday, fell behind early in the match. Carley Cooke '15 and Simone Vandroff '15 managed to pull off the only doubles victory for the women on the day, winning 8-5.

In the next three singles matches, the women managed just one more victory. Cooke rallied back and defeated Bowdoin sophomore Tiffany Cheng-ranked seventh in the region in singles competition-by a score of 4-6, 6-0, 6-2.

Emily Eska '16 then brought the women to within a point with her victory in singles play over Bowdoin freshman Samantha Stalder by a score of 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. However, the Judges dropped the next match and fell to Bowdoin 5-3.

The men also hosted Bowdoin a day earlier and likewise struggled to find success against their higher-ranked opponent-even though the match got off to a promising start.

Michael Arguello '17 and Danny Lubarsky '16 found themselves in a heated doubles match to start the day. They repeatedly jumped ahead by significant margins in the match, leading 4-1 and 7-4 at two different points, only to watch Bowdoin storm back and cut the lead in both instances against the Judges.

Lubarsky thought their inability to put away the match might have been due to lapses in focus.

"The mindset was really the same as any other match," he said. "We know we are a very solid team as long as we do the little things well. Return low, high first serve percentage and move freely at the net. We started off very well but lost a little focus at some points."

The duo, locked in an 8-8 tie, moved into a tiebreaker where the Judges jumped out to a quick lead yet again. This time, though, they held on and won the first match of the day 9-8, 7-5 in the tiebreaker.

Arguello shared the key factors that allowed them to persevere through the nearly two-hour match.

"My doubles partner and I try to keep our game plans simple and focus on a few things," he said.

"This mindset, along with our competitive spirits, helped us finally close out the match."

The men could not capitalize on the momentum from the win and dropped their next two doubles matches. The squad then fell in straight sets at the first, fourth and sixth singles courts to give Bowdoin the match-clinching fifth win over the Judges.

Lubarsky thought that despite the tougher challenge against a higher seed, they could have performed better against Bowdoin.

"I think that Bowdoin was a real tough team; they are ranked that high for a reason," he said. "At the same time, I think they were beatable, but it would have required a solid team effort. We could have performed better as a group. Against a good team like that we need all seven starters at top form."

The women also played on Saturday, going up against Trinity College in a match that went back and forth between the two teams.

Allyson Bernstein '14 and Marissa Lazar '14 earned the women's only doubles victory on the day, an 8-1 victory on the second court.

The Judges, trailing 2-1 after doubles play, traded victories until the match was tied at 4-4, setting up a deciding match between Eska and Trinity senior Elizabeth Gerber.

After three sets, Gerber came out on top 6-4, 5-7, 7-5, giving Trinity the victory over Eska.