ST. PETER, Minn. – The fourth-seeded and eighth-ranked Brandeis University men's tennis team rode a doubles sweep to a convincing 7-2 victory over fifth-seeded and ninth-ranked Washington University today in the opening round of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division III Indoor Championships.
The Judges opened the match with a key doubles sweep. Sophomores Jeffrey Chen (Northfield, Ill./New Trier) and Adam Tzeng (Eagle, Idaho/Eagle) rolled to the first point with an 8-0 victory at #2. Junior Rajan Vohra (Glen Head, N.Y./North Short) and sophomore Colt Tegtmeier (Madison, Wisc./James Madison Memorial) used a couple of late breaks of serve to take an 8-4 win at #3. Brandeis completed the sweep with a dramatic comeback at #1 doubles. Senior David Aizenberg (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park) and junior Anupreeth Coramutla (Monroe Township, N.J./Phillips Andover Academy) trailed, 7-5, when WashU's Benjamin vanders Sman suffered an injury. Partner Bernardo Neves carried on the match basically playing solo, but the Judges were able to take advantage and complete the sweep with an 8-7 (7-4) win.
In singles action, the Judges moved within one point of clinching with a near-sweep at #6 thanks to junior Nikhil Das (Smithfield, R.I./Moses Brown School), 6-0, 6-1. WashU got on the board at #1, where Ethan Hillis defeated Aizenberg, 6-1, 6-2, and Koki Takabataki knocked off Vohra, 6-4, 6-2, at #5 to get the Bears within 4-2.
The Judges clinched the match at #4, where Chen use a late break in each set to defeat J.J. Kroot, 6-4, 6-4. The Judges completed the victory with a pair of come-from-behind victories. Tzeng defeated Daniel Li, 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 at #3, and Coramutla topped Neves, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, at #2 to finish off the victory.
The Judges improve to 2-0 and will face the winner of top-seeded and top-ranked Emory and eighth-seeded, 20th-ranked and host Gustavus Adolphus in the second round tomorrow afternoon. WashU falls to 2-2.