CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The Brandeis University men's tennis team saw its deepest run into the NCAA Division III tournament come to an end today at the Champions Tennis Club in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with a 5-0 loss to University Athletic Association rival Emory University. With the loss, the Judges' season comes to a close with an 8-2 record after a pair of NCAA Tournament wins. The Eagles advance to the semifinals with an 8-3 mark.
The Judges fell behind in doubles action for only the third time this season, suffering a doubles sweep for only the second time. Two of the three matches were tight, decided by just one break of serve. Emory jumped out to the lead at #2 with an 8-1 win by Will Wanner and Andrew Esses over Brandeis senior Anupreeth Coramutla (Monroe Township, N.J./Phillips Andover) and junior Colt Tegtmeier (Madison, Wisc./James Madison Memorial). At #1, in a matchup of top duos who will be competing in the NCAA doubles tournament later this week, there was just one break of serve between Brandeis juniors Jeffrey Chen (Northfield, Ill./New Trier) and Adam Tzeng (Eagle, Idaho/Eagle) and EU's Hayden Cassone and Alec Rabinowitz, but it went to the Eagles, who took the 8-6 win. In the final doubles match of the day, senior Rajan Vohra (Glen Head, N.Y./North Shore) and rookie Dylan Walters (Baltimore, Md./Gilman School) fought from a 7-3 deficit to within 7-6 against Emory's Sahil Rana and Nolan Shah, but couldn't complete the comeback, falling 8-6.
In singles action, Emory won five of six first sets, with Coramutla getting the upper hand on Cassone at #1 in another matchup of qualifiers for the NCAA Individual tournament, with a 6-4 win. Cassone led the second, 5-3, when the match ended. Emory picked up wins at #3, where Wanner defeated Chen, 6-1, 6-2, and at #2, where Esses knocked of Tzeng, 6-2, 6-2, to clinch the match.
The NCAA Individual and Doubles Tournaments, featuring Coramutla, Chen and Tzeng takes place starting on Thursday afternoon. Emory will take on Johns Hopkins University tomorrow at 2 p.m. in the NCAA semifinals.
