#24 Judges battle back for 6-3 win at Babson, sweep Clark 9-0

Michael Secular '15
Michael Secular '15

WELLESLEY and WORCESTER, Mass. -- The 24th-ranked Brandeis University won two matches in a row on consecutive days for their first wins as a ranked team since 2011. The Judges defeated Babson College, 6-3, on Thursday afternoon, then followed it up with a 9-0 sweep of Clark University on Friday. Brandeis is now 7-4 on the season.

On Thursday, Babson started strongly, taking two of the three doubles matches. The Beavers won, 8-4 at No. 1, while Brandeis rookie Brian Granoff (Miami, Fla./Gulliver Prep) and junior Michael Secular (Bronx, N.Y./Plant (Fla.)) won, 8-5, at No. 2. In a marathon match at No. 3, the host's tandem of Connor DeFiore and Dom Wysolmerski outlasted Jeff Cherkin (Melville, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East) and Alec Siegel (Deerfield, Ill./Deerfield) for a 9-8 (8-6) win.

The Judges rebounded in singles, taking the first three matches to finish and five of six overall for the 6-3 margin of victory. Fifth and sixth singles finished first, with Siegel and Secular both winning in straight sets. Rookie Ryan Bunis (Groton, Mass./Groton-Dunstable) lost his first set at No. 4, but rallied for a 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 win to give Brandeis a 4-2 lead.

Roberto Perez defeated rookie Michael Arguello (Brentwood, Tenn./Brentwood) at No. 1, 6-3, 6-3, for his second win of the day, but that would be all for Babson. Sophomore Danny Lubarsky (Cleveland, Ohio/Hawken School) won 7-5, 6-4 to clinch the match for Brandeis. Granoff won, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 for the final point.

Against Clark on Friday, the Judges cruised, losing just seven games in doubles action, with wins of 8-3, 8-3 and 8-1, from the top of the ladder to the bottom. 

In singles, with Arguello sitting out of the top spot, the rest of roster carried on, dropping four or fewer games in five of the six matches. Rookie Jeff Cherkin (Melville, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East) led the way improving to 3-2 at the No. 6 spot without losing a set, 6-0, 6-0, to the Cougars' Spencer Brightman. Granoff rolled in his first match at the top spit, 6-1, 6-0, while Secular cruised at No. 5, 6-0, 6-1. Lubarsky earned a 6-1, 6-2 decision in his first match of the season at No. 2, while Siegel was a 6-3, 6-1, winner at No. 4. The longest match of the day belonged to Bunis in the third slot, as he edged his Clark foe Spencer Pinkney, 6-4, 6-4. 

The Judges look to continue their success as a ranked team on Sunday afternoon at Wheaton College.