ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. – The 34th-ranked Brandeis University men's tennis team pushed No. 6 Washington University in the opening round of the 2017 University Athletic Association tournament, but the Judges suffered a 6-3 defeat at the hands of the Bears.
The Judges had a chance to take the lead after doubles action. Washington earned the first point of the match at No. 2, while Brandeis seniors Michael Arguello (Brentwood, Tenn./Brentwood) and Ryan Bunis (Cincinnati, Ohio/Groton-Dunstable, Mass.) earned an 8-4 win at No. 1. At the third spot, the match was on serve until WashU's Bernardo Neves and Radha Vishnubhotla earned a break in the 15th game and held on to defeat Brandeis's Brian Granoff (Miami, Fla./Gulliver Prep) and Jackson Kogan (Pacific Palisades, Cailf./Windward School), 9-7.
In singles action, Granoff quickly shook off his doubles defeat to win at No. 2 singles, 6-1, 6-1. Washington's Jeremy Bush earned a 6-1, 6-2, win at No. 4, while J.J. Kroot won 6-1, 6-4, at No. 5 to get the Bears to 4-2 as the remaining three matches went to third sets.
At No. 6, Brandeis rookie David Aizenberg (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park) won the first set, 7-5, against Washington's Konrad Kozlowski, but the Bear rallied to win the next two sets, 6-2, 6-2, to clinch the match. Brandeis's Arguello completed a 2-0 day by coming from a set down himself, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, at No. 3. At the No. 1 spot, Bunis went ahead after a first-set tiebreaker, 7-6 (7-3), but WashU's Johnny Wu won the second, 6-1, and captured a super tiebreaker in the third set, 10-1.
Brandeis (10-7), the tournament's seventh seed, will meet sixth-seeded NYU (9-3) in the consolation semifinals tomorrow at 2 p.m. The Judges will be looking to avenge a 3-6 loss to the Violets on March 10. Washington will face Chicago in the championship semifinals at the same time.