#30 men's tennis picks up 6-3 win over MIT in final tuneup for UAAs

Seniors Adam Brown and Evan Berner and their families before the Senior Day match (Photo by Marni Friedman '04)
Seniors Adam Brown and Evan Berner and their families before the Senior Day match (Photo by Marni Friedman '04)
Posted: Apr 21, 2014

WALTHAM, Mass. -- In their final dual match before the 2014 University Athletic Association championships later this week, the Brandeis men's tennis team defeated MIT, 6-3, on the Rieger Tennis courts. The 30th-ranked Judges improve to 10-7 with the win, while the Engineers fall to 11-5 as their four-match winning streak was snapped.

Brandeis head coach Ben Lamanna shuffled the doubles lineup for the Judges after they suffered a sweep at the hands of Bates over the weekend. Lamanna was rewarded as the three new tandems earned Brandeis their first 3-0 mark after doubles action since April 4. 

At the top spot, rookie Brian Granoff (Miami, Fla./Gulliver Prep) and sophomore Danny Lubarsky (Cleveland, Ohio/Hawken School) earned an 8-4 win. Junior Alec Siegel (Deerfield, Ill./Deerfield) and freshman Michael Arguello (Brentwood, Tenn./Brentwood) had the easiest of the three matches, winning 8-2 at No. 2. In the third spot, rookie Jeff Cherkin (Melville, N.Y. / Half Hollow Hills East) teamed with junior Michael Secular (Bronx, N.Y./Plant, Fla.) for an 8-6 victory to complete the sweep.

MIT rallied a bit in early singles play, winning three of the first four matches. Granoff improved to 6-1 on the season at No. 1 with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Edwin Zhang, but the Engineers took wins at 2, 3 and 6 in straight sets to cut the lead to 4-3 as the final two matches went to three sets. 

The clinching point came at No. 4, where rookie Ryan Bunis (Groton, Mass./Groton-Dunstable) won 1-6, 6-3, 6-3. It was the rookie's seventh win in a row, and the fifth time in that span he rallied from a one-set deficit to win, including the last three. Brandeis added a third singles win at No. 5, where Siegel also bounced back from dropping the first set. He owned a 4-6, 7-5, 3-1 lead when his opponent retired. 

Before the match, Brandeis honored its two graduating seniors Evan Berner (McLean, Va./Langley) and Adam Brown (W. Simsbury, Conn./Simsbury).

The Judges return to action on Thursday at the UAA Championships. The Judges were dealt the eighth seed in the tournament - thanks to head-to-head results that saw them fall to 7-seed NYU, who lost to 6-seed Rochester. Brandeis will meet top-seeded and second-in-the-nation Washington University in the opening round.