Posted: Mar 18, 2017
MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – The Brandeis men's tennis team traveled north to Vermont and suffered a 7-2 defeat at the hands of Middlebury College. The30th-ranked Judges fall to 4-4 on the season, while the No. 7 Panthers improve to 2-0.
Playing with a bit of a lineup shakeup, the Judges fell behind, 3-0, after doubles action. The closest match took place at No. 2, where seniors Michael Arguello (Brentwood, Tenn./Brentwood) and Jeff Cherkin (Melville, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East) took Hamid Derbani and Kyle Schlanger to 8-5 before falling.
In singles action, the Panthers won the first three matches to clinch. That included a rematch of the ITA Northeast Regional finals from the fall, with the Panthers' Lubomir Cuba defeating Arguello, 6-3, 6-1.
After dropping straight-set matches at No. 2 and 3, the Judges got on the board at Nos. 4 and 5 thanks to a pair of rookies. At No. 4, David Aizenberg (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park) came back from a set down to defeat Timo van der Geest, 3-6, 6-4, 11-9 in a third-set super tiebreaker. Classmate Benjamin Wolfe (Blue Bell, Pa./Wissahickon) did the same at No. 5, 3-6, 6-2, 10-6.
The Judges return to action with another tough match next against 15th-ranked Amherst next Saturday evening.