WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Tiebreakers ruled the day for the Brandeis men's tennis team on Day 1 of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) New England regional at Williams College. A pair of Brandeis doubles teams have advanced past the first round in tiebreakers, while all three first-round singles matches also went to third-set super tiebreakers.
In doubles action, The senior tandem of Josh Jordan (Northborough, Mass./Algonquin Regional) and Steven Milo (Woodbury, N.Y./Syosset) were seeded in the draw, earning a spot among the 5th through 8th seeds. They held on in a marathon match to defeat Pierre Planche and Peter Yanovsky of Bates College, 9-8. The Judges won the tiebreaker by a 10-8 score.
Brandeis also provided one of three upsets of seeded teams in the opening round. The duo of sophomore Alec Siegel (Deerfield, Ill./Deerfield) and rookie Mitch Krems (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Century Acad.) took on third-seed Doug Caplan and Kyle Wolstoncraft of Bowdoin College. In another tight affair, the Judges prevailed, 9-8 and 7-5 in the tiebreaker.
In singles, Milo, who earned the eighth seed, moved on to the second round by edging Howie Weiss of host Williams. They split the first two sets, with Milo winning 6-2 in the opener and Weiss, 6-4, in the second set. Milo then won a third-set super-tiebreaker, 10-4. Milo went on to make it to the Round of 16 with a 7-5, 6-2, win over Dan Carpenter of Trinity College.
Jordan and Krems were not as fortunate, bowing in two tight matches in the first round. Jordan also took on a member of the host school, falling to Alex Schidlovsky of Williams. Jordan won the first set, 7-5, but dropped the second, 6-4. Schidlovsky then hung on for the win in the super tiebreaker, 10-6. Krems, facing the seeded Casey Grindon of Bowdoin, dropped a 2-6, 6-1, 10-4, decision.
On the second day of the tournament, Siegel and Krems were unable to continue their run, losing by a slim margin to the Amherst duo of Mark Kahan and Russell Einbeinder, 9-7. The Lord Jeffs' Kahan was the top seed in the singles draw.
Milo and Jordan were able to uphold their seed and make it to the final eight by defeating Ben Barad and Nick Telkhedzhiev of Tufts, 8-4, but the tournament's fourth seed, Matt Micheli and Trey Meyer from host Williams ended the Judges' run in the quarterfinals with an 8-5 defeat.
Milo was also able to uphold his seed and reach the Elite Eight, as he defeated another Tufts player, Jay Glickman, in the Sweet 16, by a 6-3, 6-3 score. That win set up a meeting with top-seeded Kahan in the quarters. Milo gave the No. 1 player from Amherst all he could handle and taking the second set before falling, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
The Judges wrap up their fall schedule at the James Wallach Invitational at Bates College next weekend.