WALTHAM, Mass. – The Brandeis University women's tennis team snapped a six-match losing streak with a 5-4 victory over Division II Franklin Pierce College today. The Judges, who had lost four matches by a 5-4 score this season, improve to 4-10 on the year. The Ravens fall to 12-5.
The Judges jumped out to a 2-1 lead after doubles action. First-year Cecilia Denis (Ardmore, Pa. / Lower Merion) and sophomore Nikita Salkar (Mumbai, India/ Mourataglou Tennis Academy) opened the scoring with an 8-2 win at #3. After FPU evened things up with an 8-4 win at #2, first-years Sabrina Loui (Honolulu, Hawaii/Punahou School) and Bhakti Parwani (Ahmedabad, India/Kumkum School) put Brandeis on top with an 8-5 win at #1.
The singles matches went back and forth. Franklin Pierce tied the match with a 6-2, 6-2, win at #4 by Anais Geslin over Brandeis senior Ana Hatfield (Rockford, Ill./Boylan Central Catholic). Parwani rolled at #1, 6-0, 6-3, to put the Judges back on top, but Zoe Asterio Correa downed Brandeis sophomore Jiayi Zhang (Shanghai, China / Shanghai International), 6-3, 6-2, to tie things up at 3-all.
Loui earned her second win of the day with a 6-4, 7-5, win at #3, while the Ravens prevailed at #2, where Himani Mor knocked off Salkar, 6-2, 6-3. The match was decided at #5, where first-year Anastasia Sia (Thessaloniki, Greece / Anatolia College) used a couple of late breaks of serve in each set to earn a 7-5, 6-4, victory. The win was Sia's team-leading eighth of the dual-match season, at positions three through six.
Brandeis returns to action on Friday, April 15th, with a match at Wesleyan University.