Granoff and Bunis lead Judges at Wallach Invitational

Brian Granoff '17
Brian Granoff '17
Posted: Oct 11, 2014

Lewiston, Maine – Brandeis University sophomores Brian Granoff (Miami, Fla./Gulliver Prep) and Ryan Bunis (Groton, Mass. / Groton-Dunstable) had a strong showing in this weekend's Wallach Invitational at Bates College.

Granoff, seeded fourth in the singles A tournament, made a deep run until meeting eventual winner and overall top-seeded Ari Smolyar of Middlebury College in the semifinals. The sophomore took care of business in his first two matches winning both in straight sets before his showdown with Smolyar. Granoff defeated Rob Jacobson of Tufts University in the round of 16, 7-5, 6-1, before knocking off Kit Sanderson of Skidmore College more easily, 6-4, 6-0. Smolyar was able to end Granoff's run in straight sets in the semis. In the bottom half of the bracket, Bunis defeated Henry Lee in straight sets, 6-3, 6-0, before falling to the second-seeded and eventual runner-up, Carl Reid of Colby College, in the quarterfinals. Reid also eliminated Bunis at the ITA regional tournament at Middlebury College a few weeks ago.

Brandeis had the overall top-seeded pairing in doubles action with two more sophomores, Michael Arguello (Brentwood, Tenn. / Brentwood) and Jeff Cherkin (Melville, N.Y. / Half Hollow Hills East), representing the Judges. The duo defeated Brian Tan and Zain Ali of Tufts, 9-7, in the round of 16 before losing a close one to previously unseeded but eventual runner-ups Clifford Traft and Musoka Mbithi of Trinity College in the quarterfinals, 9-7. Traft also beat Arguello in singles play in a back-and-forth match that went to a tiebreaker, 7-5, 0-6, 10-4.

Granoff and Junior Danny Lubarsky (Cleveland, Ohio / Hawken School) knocked off the third-seeded Smolyar and Peter Heidrich of Middlebury in doubles action, 8-3, in convincing fashion. Granoff and Lubarsky then fell to Sanderson and Nick Tong of Skidmore, 9-8(3) in the round of 8.

In doubles B action, Rookie Ethan Saal (Scarsdale, N.Y. / Abraham Joshua Heschel School) along with Senior Alec Siegel (Deerfield, Ill. / Deerfield) won their first match 9-7 before falling in the quarterfinals to a group from Trinity, 8-5. 


In the singles D tournament, Saal beat Teddy Berkowitz of Skidmore in the round of 16. Next up for Saal was unseeded Will de Quant of Middlebury College. De Quant outlasted Saal and the rest of the field, winning the singles D tournament. Senior Michael Secular (Bronx, N.Y. / Plant (Fla.)) also handled his opponent in the round of 16 before falling in the quarterfinals to second-seeded Chris Frost of Middlebury College. 

The Judges return to action in the spring on Feb. 17 at Chapman University in Orange, California.