WELLESLEY, Mass. – With two of their top three singles players out of the lineup, the 14th-ranked Brandeis men's tennis team outlasted #26 Babson, 5-4, as four of the six singles matches went three sets. The Judges improve to 10-3, while the Beavers see a six-match winning streak snapped as they fall to 9-4.
The Judges fell behind after doubles for only the third time this season in three tight matches. Babson won, 8-6, at #1, where Judge junior Hunter Levine (Weston, Fla. / Cypress Bay) and sophomore Dylan Walters (Baltimore, Md./Gilman School) were playing for the first time this season. Senior Jeffrey Chen (Northfield, Ill./New Trier) and junior Simon Kauppila (Chesterfield, Mo. / Marquette) played as a team for the first time and pulled out an 8-6 win at #2. In the final doubles match, Babson's Jason Weisman and Parker Law outlasted Brandeis senior Colt Tegtmeier (Madison, Wisc./James Madison Memorial) and first-year Aryan Nijhawan (Shrewsbury, Mass. / Westborough), 8-7, with the Beaver duo taking the tiebreaker, 7-4.
In singles action, Brandeis took the only two two-set matches to go up, 3-2. At #2, Walters defeated Maxwell Conlin, 7-5, 6-1, while first-year Chen Liang (Shanghai, China / Shanghai Pinghe School) won his first varsity dual match at #6, 6-4, 6-2.
Babson evened things up at #3 when Kian Yazdi rallied to defeat Walters, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2. Sophomore Aaron Basye (Mission Viejo, Calif. / Tesoro) won his first career match at #5 after six at #6, 2-6, 6-2, 6-2, to push Brandeis within one point of victory. Babson responded with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, win by Ole Lepsoe over Chen at #1. In the final match, Kauppila picked up his second win of the day against Brady Anderson, winning the final six games, 5-7, 6-2, 6-0.
Brandeis returns to action next Friday afternoon with a 4 p.m. match at Wesleyan University.