MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – Brandeis University had senior standout Carley Cooke (San Diego, Calif. / Point Loma) seeded fourth overall of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association regional singles tournament, the Judges' first of the year.
Cooke was able to win her first two singles matches and one match in the doubles tournament paired up with rookie Haley Cohen (Cherry Hill, N.J. / Laurel Springs). Friday morning, Cooke defeated her first two singles opponents in straight sets never losing more than 4 games in any set. She unfortunately fell to the pesky Vickie Ip from Amherst College who was in the 9-15 seed line. After losing the first set, Cooke responded with a 6-0 whooping in the second set only to eventually fall in the final set to Ip. Later that afternoon in doubles play, Cooke and Cohen won their first match in nail-biting fashion as the match went deep into the tiebreaker, 9-8(8-6). They then fell to the fourth-seeded doubles team of Alex Freeman and Yagmur Akgul from Babson College, 8-4. Rookie Cohen upset sixth-seeded Chelsea Hayashi of Wellesley College her opening singles matchup in straight sets 6-3, 7-5, before falling to the formidable Giulia McDonnell from Williams College.
In the consolation singles and doubles action, senior Simone Vandroff (Moss Beach, Calif. / Half Moon Bay) had some success in each respective tournament. Vandroff beat Ellie Mandzhukova of Bates College in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5, of the first round of the singles tournament before falling to Hannah Atkinson of the host Williams College. Vandroff also won her first doubles match in consolation play as she was paired up with fellow senior Dylan Schlesinger (Miami, Fla. / Palmetto).
The Judges return to action on Oct. 17 with the New England Women's Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament.