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| Nick Cary won in singles play for the Jumbos against Brandeis on Wednesday |
Parts of this recap courtesy of Brandeis Sports Information
WALTHAM, Mass. -- The Brandeis University men's tennis team, ranked #35 in Division III, defeated a team ranked ahead of them for the first time this season today, as the Judges rode a double sweep to a 6-3 win over 23rd-ranked Tufts University. Brandeis improves to 5-7 on the season, while Tufts falls to 3-2.
The Jumbos picked up all three wins in singles play as junior co-captain Rob Jacobson, classmate Nick Cary and freshman Zain Ali all won in their respective positions. Jacobson topped his Brandeis counterpart at No. 3 singles, 6-3, 3-6, 11-9. Cary needed just two sets to win at No. 5 singles, 6-2, 6-1. The last Jumbo win came at No. 6 singles as Ali cruised past Brandeis' Michael Secular, 6-4, 6-0.
Playing on three indoor courts at the Gosman Center, Brandeis got off to a hot start with doubles. Sophomore Brian Granoff and junior Danny Lubarsky opened the scoring with an 8-3 win at No. 2 over the Jumbo's pair of sophomore Ben Battle and junior Nick Cary. A pair of rookies, Eric Goldberg and Ethan Saal, playing together for just the second time all season, won 8-5 at No. 3 over Jumbo rookie Rohan Gupte and junior co-captain Rob Jacobson
At No. 1, sophomores Jeffery Cherkin and Michael Arguello moved into the top slot for only the second time all season. Facing the Jumbos' pair of junior Nik Telkedzhiev and senior co-captain Brian Tan, the Brandeis duo won the last three games of the set to earn a 9-7 victory.
In singles action, the Judges made quick work of the visitors at the top two spots in the lineup to clinch victory. Arguello defeated Battle, 6-1, 6-3, at No. 2 to get Brandeis within one point of the upset. At No. 1, Granoff won the first set at love against Telkedzhiev, but was broken early in the second to fall behind, 2-0. Granoff reeled off six more in a row to give Brandeis their fifth win of the day.
Senior Alec Siegel would earn the team's last point with the longest match of the day at No. 4 singles, fending off Tufts's Gupte, 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 10-7 in a third-set super-tiebreaker.
The Judges return to action on Saturday when they head to eighth-ranked Bowdoin. The Jumbos take the courts again on Saturday when they travel to Amherst for a 1:00 pm match.
