WALTHAM, Mass. -- In a marathon match that lasted more than seven hours, the Brandeis women's tennis team, ranked 23rd in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Division III poll knocked off 29th-ranked Bates College, 5-4, in the Gosman Athletic Center today. Both teams now own a 3-4 record. 

The Judges and Bobcats split the top two doubles matches, with Brandeis senior Faith Broderick (Washingtonville, N.Y./Washingtonville) and rookie Maya Vasser (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) taking an 8-4 decision at No. 1 and seniors Kristen Doerer and Nicole Russell winning at No. 2 for Bates. In third doubles, the Bobcat tandem of junior Lucy Brennan and sophomore Audrey Grauer got a late break of serve against Brandeis sophomore Dylan Schlesinger (Miami, Fla./Palmetto) to hand Schlesinger and rookie Sarita Biswas (Bedford, Mass./Bedford) a 9-7 loss and take a 2-1 lead into singles.

Broderick wasted little time in evening the match at No. 1 singles with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Bates's Elena Mandzhukova. The Bobcats responded with the next two wins, as Brennan topped Vasser, 6-2, 6-0, and Russell topped Schlesinger, 6-1, 6-2.

Meanwhile, the longest match of the day took place at No. 2 singles. Brandeis junior Alexa Katz (Philadelphia, Pa./Abington Friends) and Bates senior Ashley Brunk lasted more than three hours. The match, which ended after the fourth singles match that hadn't started until another court came free, went in thhe Judges' direction, as Katz won the second set in a tiebreaker, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3). 

That put the match in the hands of two rookies who have seen limited action for the Judges. At No. 5, rookie Emily Eska (Princeton, Mass./Wachusett Regional) played just her second match of the season. She took a tiebreaker from Grauer in the first set, 7-6 (7-4), then rolled in the second, 6-0, to tie the match at 4-4. At sixth singles, Hannah Marion (Hillsborough, N.C./Cedar Ridge) made her varsity debut and made an early break in each set hold up for a 6-4, 6-3 win over Doerer to complete the comeback.

Brandeis, which had lost three straight matches to nationally-ranked teams, returns to action next Thursday against cross-town rival Bentley, while the Bobcats take on an in-state rival, Colby College, on Wednesday. 

#23 Brandeis 5, #29 Bates College 4
Mar 16, 2013 at Waltham, Mass. (Gosman Athletic Center (Indoors))