MEDFORD, MA (March 28, 2025) – Returning from their win at the Stag-Hen Invitational in California over spring break, the No. 2 Tufts men's tennis team played a pair of matches on Saturday. The first match saw the team face off against the No. 24 Brandeis Judges in Waltham, while the second showdown welcomed New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) opponent Hamilton to Medford.
Match 1: Tufts 6 vs. Brandeis 1
Tufts has historically been dominant against Brandeis, holding a 21-4 record in the matchup dating back to 1995. Saturday only added to that dominance, as the Jumbos took care of business with a convincing win.
The Jumbos jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead after securing two of the three doubles matches. At No. 1 doubles,
Alex Ganchev and
Sacha Maes delivered a strong and efficient performance, defeating Oliver Lorenz and Daniel Shemesh 6-1 in just 21 minutes. Brandeis responded at No. 3 doubles, where freshman
Logan Mahan and
Anirudh Dhanwada fell 6-0 to Muaz Malik and Huasen Dong. However,
Kaetan Mehta and
Andrej Djokic sealed the doubles point for Tufts at No. 2, defeating Aidan Wang-Fan and Pierce Garbett 6-2.
After falling 6–3 in the first set to Garbett at No. 2 singles, Djokic battled back and won the next two sets 6-2, 6-2 to give the Jumbos a 2-0 match lead.
Ganchev followed suit, as he too dropped the first set to Shemesh at No. 1 singles. He fought back and won the next two sets en route to a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory.
It was Maes, playing No. 3 singles, who was able to clinch the match for the Jumbos with his 6–3, 6–0 routing of Malik.
Davide Mirza narrowly dropped his first set 7-5 to Wang-Fan at No. 6 singles. He was able to power through a tight second set, winning 6-4. In the third set, Mirza found himself up 5-0 before Wang-Fan tied it up at 5-5. The match went to a tiebreak, where Mirza was able to pull through and gut out a 7-6 (9-7) victory.
At No. 4 singles, Mehta was the next Jumbo to win, defeating Huasen Dong. He had an easy time in the first set, winning 6-3, but the second set pushed him much harder. Dong was able to force a tiebreak in the second, which Mehta won 7–6 (10–8).
At No. 5 singles, Dhanwada dropped the first set to Lorenz 6-1. Down 1-4 in the second set, Dhanwada was able to fight back and take it 7-5 to set up a 10-point match tiebreaker. Lorenz was able to take down Dhanwada 10–8 in the tiebreaker, giving the Judges their only point of the day.
ORDER OF FINISH: 1, 3, 2
2, 1, 3, 6, 4, 5
Match 2: Tufts 7, Hamilton 0
Hamilton entered the match with a 5-3 overall record this year and an 0-2 record in NESCAC play. The Continentals have also had a difficult time with the Jumbos, as they currently sit on a 12-match losing streak against the Brown and Blue.
Tufts took early control of the match and secured the doubles point. At No. 1 doubles,
Javier Gonzalez and
Stavros Mastrogamvrakis narrowly beat Villem Aadamsoo and Lleyton Mendieta 6-4 after they managed to force an early break.
Matej Djokic served for the match at 5-4 alongside his partner
Garv Bahl and delivered a 6–4 win. The two of them clinched the doubles point over Anson Anderson and Tarun Korwar at No. 2 doubles.
Last to finish was the No. 3 doubles pair of William Moldenhauer and
Takehiro Shuda, facing off against Alexei Katelevsky and Fillip Glov Moeller. Finding themselves down 5-4, they tied the match and shortly after broke Hamilton's serve to go up 6–5 and serve for the match. Moldenhauer wasn't able to close things out on his serve, and a tiebreaker was forced. The Tufts duo wasn't able to win the tiebreak, falling 7–4.
Andrey Ignatyev was automatic at No. 6 singles, propelling himself to a 6-1, 6-1 win versus Alejandro Fernandez Lecaroz.
Djokic was able to bring home the third point for the Jumbos at No. 4 singles. He took down Anderson 6–2 in the first set but quickly fell behind 2–5 in the second set. Djokic was able to rip off five games in a row to win the set 7-5.
Mastrogamvrakis beat Aadamsoo 6-3, 7-5 at No. 3 singles and secured the match for Tufts.
After winning the first set 6–0 at No. 1 singles, Gonzalez dropped the next set 4-6. Down 5–2 in the third set, Gonzalez defended two set points from Korwar and ended up winning the set 7-5.
Bahl was the next to finish and gave the Jumbos their sixth point of the match. He took care of Mendieta in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 2 singles.
Shuda secured the seventh point and the full match sweep for the Jumbos, beating Katelevsky at No. 5 singles 7-5, 5-7, 10-4.
Tomorrow, the Jumbos will travel to play No. 18 Amherst College. Tufts has won the last four match-ups, having beaten them 6–1 last season at home. Amherst is coming off a season that included a trip to the NESCAC semifinals and an NCAA appearance, where they lost in the second round to RPI—whom Tufts beat in the third round. Tufts will look to stay undefeated in conference play tomorrow.
ORDER OF FINISH: 1, 2, 3
6, 4, 3, 1, 2, 5
--JUMBOS--
