WALTHAM, Mass -- The Brandeis University women's tennis team, ranked #22 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division III national poll, used a doubles sweep today to defeat visiting Bates College, 6-3. Before the match, the Judges honored their four seniors -Roberta Bergstein (Hingham, Mass./Hingham), Allyson Bernstein (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North), Alexa Katz (Philadelphia, Pa./Abington Friends) and Marissa Lazar (Hewlett, N.Y./Lynbrook).
The Judges opened the match with a doubles sweep, though it wasn't easy for two of the three matches. Bernstein and Lazar rolled in the second spot, 8-1. At No. 3, a pair of juniors, Dylan Schlesinger (Miami, Fla./Palmetto) and Simone Vandroff (Moss Beach, Calif./Half Moon Bay) erased a 5-4 deficit by winning four of the last five games for an 8-6 win.
The final doubles match at No. 1, saw Bergstein and junior Carley Cooke (San Diego, Calif./Point Loma) against Bates' Elizabeth Erbafina (Sudbury, Mass./Lincoln-Sudbury) and Elena Mandzhukova (Lisbon, Portugal/Kents Hill School). After the first six games were on-serve with the match tied at 3-3, the two sides traded breaks for the next six. Bergstein/Cooke finally held serve to give the Judges a 7-6 lead, the the duo earned a fourth-straight break to pick up the 8-6 victory and complete the sweep.
In singles action, Bernstein put Brandeis on the brink of victory with a quick 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 2. The Bobcats got on the board at No. 6, where Libby Voccola earned a similarly quick 6-1, 6-0, decision. Another speedy decision went the visitors' way at No. 3, where Erbafina picked up a 6-0, 6-1 win.
Cooke earned the decisive point at No. 1 singles against Mandzhukova. After winning the first set with a late break, 7-5, Cooke rolled in the second, 6-0. Vandroff earned Brandeis's final point in the fifth spot with a second-set tiebreaker, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3), while Bates' Kristen Doerer took the final match to end at No. 4, 6-3, 7-6 (6-3).
Brandeis improves to 9-8 with the win. The Judges take on Simmons College later today at 3 p.m. Bates falls to 7-6 and will be at Tufts tomorrow at 4 p.m.
