Aizenberg and Coramutla reach Middlebury tourney finals

David Aizenberg '20  (Photo by Jeff Lamanna)
David Aizenberg '20 (Photo by Jeff Lamanna)

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – A youthful Brandeis men's tennis team sent one duo to the finals of their season-opening tournament this weekend, the Middlebury College Invitational.

Sophomore David Aizenberg (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park) teamed with rookie Anupreeth Coramutla (Monroe Township, N.J./Phillips Andover) to reach the finals of A doubles flight. The duo opened with an upset over the second-seeded team of Rohan Gupte and Zain Ali from Tufts, extending the Jumbos to a tiebreaker for taking a 9-8 (9-7) win. They rolled over a squad from Skidmore College, 8-2, in the quarterfinals before knocking off the third-seeded squad also from the Thoroughbreds, 8-6. Facing the tandem of Kyle Schlanger and Timo van der Geest from the host Middlebury Panthers in the finals, the Judges were unable to complete the sweep with an 8-6 defeat.

The Judges had a couple of players advance past the first round of the singles draws. In the B flight, rookie Nikhil Das (Smithfield, R.I. / Moses Brown School) won his opening collegiate match, 7-6 (7-4), 6-0, over an opponent from Hamilton College before falling to fourth-seeded and eventual draw champion van der Geest, 6-3, 7-5.

In the C draw, sophomore Benjamin Wolfe (Blue Bell, Pa./Wissahickon) knocked off second-seeded Zach Shaff of Tufts, 6-2, 6-2, before falling in a three-set match in the second round, 7-5, 2-6, 10-6, to Jack McLaren of Skidmore.

Two Brandeis entrants in the D draw advanced. Rookie Rajan Vohra (Glen Head, N.Y. / North Shore) earned the second seed and defeated Bates' Duane Davis in the first round, 6-3, 6-1, but was upset in three sets by Skidmore's Kevin Ha, 2-6, 6-4, 10-8. Junior Harshil Dwivedi (Greenwood Village, Colo. / Cherry Creek) bested Hamilton's Matt May, 6-4 6-2, but lost to top-seeded Brian Niguidula of RPI, 6-1, 6-1, in round 2.

Brandeis returns to Middlebury next weekend for the ITA New England Regional championships.