WELLESLEY, Mass. – The bottom of the singles lineup carried the 22nd-ranked Brandeis University women's tennis team today as they edged Babson, 5-4, on the road. The Judges halt a three-match skid and improve to 8-6 on the season, while the Beavers' six-match winning streak was halted as they fall to 12-3.
In a string of lopsided doubles matches, Babson got off to a fast start. The Beavers won matches at No. 1 and 3 by identical 8-2 scores, while the Judges' No. 2 tandem of junior Keren Khromchenko (Manalapan, N.J./Academy of Allied Health and Science) and sophomore Sabrina Ross Neergaard (Port Orchard, Wash./Laurel Springs Prep) were 8-0 winners.
Four of the six singles matches were similarly one-sided affairs, with the winner not dropping more than one game in a set in each of them. Fortunately for Brandeis, the Judges won three of those, plus one more to emerge with the victory. The squad's bottom four rungs of the ladder combined to lose just nine games in eight sets. At No. 3, junior Olivia Leavitt (Falmouth, Maine/Falmouth) picked up a 6-1, 6-1, win. At No. 4, rookie Lauren Bertsch (Middletown, R.I./LaSalle Academy) was a 6-2, 6-3, victor in the longest of the four Brandeis wins. Junior Michele Lehat (Great Neck, N.Y./John L. Miller Great Neck North) rolled at No. 5, 6-1, 6-0, while rookie Rachel Zubrinsky (Waxhaw, N.C./Marvin Ridge) won by the similar score of 6-0, 6-1.
Babson's wins were the first and last of singles points to be decided, as Alexa Tutecky won 6-0, 6-0, at No. 1 and Carolina Merz won the lone marathon, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4, at No. 2.
The Judges play the second of three matches in three days tomorrow at 12 noon against Bates College back in Waltham.