WALTHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University men's tennis team closed out their 2017 season today with a 6-3 defeat at the hands of rivals Tufts University.
Brandeis opened the scoring on the afternoon, as seniors Michael Arguello (Brentwood, Tenn./Brentwood) and Ryan Bunis (Cincinnati, Ohio/Groton-Dunstable, Mass.) picked up an 8-4 win at No. 1 doubles against Rohan Gupte and Zain Ali. The Jumbos responded by winning the next two doubles matches by the same score. Ross Kamin and Nathan Neimeic defeated Brandeis's Brian Granoff (Miami, Fla./Gulliver Prep) and Jackson Kogan (Palisades Park, Calif./Windward School) at No. 3 to tie the match, while Ben Battle and Zach Shaff gave the visitors the 2-1 lead at No. 2 with a win over rookie David Aizenberg (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park) and sophomore Tyler Ng (Great Neck, N.Y./Great Neck South).
In singles action, Tufts won four straight to clinch the victory. Ethan Chen knocked off Jeff Cherkin (Melville, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East), 6-3, 6-2, at No. 6, while Arguello lost a tough 6-4, 7-5 decision at No. 3 to Dan Coran. The match was decided at No. 2, where Ali came from a set down to defeat Granoff, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4. Neimiec used a late break of serve to win the first set over Brandeis rookie Mitchell Ostrovsky (Brooklyn, N.Y. / Leon M Goldstein) at No. 5, taking a 7-5, 6-2 victory.
Brandeis picked up the final two wins, with Ng jumping out to an early break in the third set before Shaff was forced to retire with the score 6-3, 4-6, 2-0. Finally, in a worthy No. 1 match, Bunis outlasted Gupte in a marathon third-set super-tiebreaker, 6-4, 5-7, 13-11.
The 19th-ranked Judges close their season with a 12-8 record, tying the 2006-07 squad for most wins under current head coach Ben Lamanna, while the Jumbos improve to 9-6 and head to defending national champions Bowdoin tomorrow afternoon.
Before the match, the Judges honored their four seniors: Arguello, Bunis, Cherkin, and Granoff, who combined for 41 career dual-match victories in their careers, making them coach Lamanna's winningest senior class.