WALTHAM, Mass. – #27 Brandeis women's tennis had a tough weekend, losing two close matches 5-4, on Saturday against The College of New Jersey and on Sunday against NYU. The Judges fell to 1-5 on the season.
Against TCNJ, the Judges took the top two doubles matchups, as sophomore Haley Cohen (Cherry Hill, N.J. / Laurel Springs) and rookie Olivia Leavitt (Falmouth, Maine / Falmouth) won the No.1 contest 9-7 and rookie Sophia He (Poughkeepsie, N.Y. / Spackenkill) and sophomore Charlotte Aaron (Phoenix, Ariz. / Arcadia) took the No. 2 8-5.
During singles action, He continued her winning ways with a decisive 6-1, 6-1 victory over Lions' Grace Minassian in the No.4 matchup. Senior Maya Vasser (New Rochelle, N.Y. / New Rochelle) was also to dispatch her opponent for the Judges' other singles win, 7-6 (3-1), 6-1. Aaron jumped out ahead of TCNJ's Anna Prestera in the first set, winning it 6-1, but Prestera pulled out the last two 6-3, 6-4.
On Sunday against NYU, Brandeis fell behind 2-1 in doubles action. The victory came from No. 3 pairing senior Emily Eska (Princeton, Mass. / Wachusett Regional) and Vasser, who won handily, 8-3. No. 1 pairing Cohen and Leavitt lost a close one to the Violets' Carmen Lai and Flyora Shiyanova, 9-8.
Eska and Vasser continued to win as the match moved to the singles portion. Eska won the No. 5 matchup in three sets, 7-5, 1-6, 6-2, and Vasser took the No. 6 in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2. He grabbed the other point for the Judges on Sunday, splitting the first two sets 6-4, 4-6 with NYU's Laila El Dessouki and taking the last one 7-5. Leavitt also gave her opponent a strong match in the No. 3 spot, taking her to three sets before losing 2-6, 6-3, 3-6.
The Judges continue play at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 19, with their first home match of the year against UAA rival University of Rochester.
-by Corey Cohen '18
