MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – The Brandeis University men's tennis team earned a pair of titles at the 2023 Middlebury College Invitational over the weekend. The Judge tandem of senior
Dylan Walters (Baltimore, Md./Gilman School) and
Tommy Harrison (London, England/National Extension College) won the tournament's top doubles flight, while first-year
Watson Dong (Richmond Hill, Ont./Richmond Green Second School) captured the 'B' singles flight.
In winning the 'A' doubles flight, fourth-seeded Walters and Harrison opened with an 8-5 over a team from Bates College. In the quarterfinals, they took down a pair from RPI, 8-2. They won by the same score over a tandem from host Middlebury in the semifinals, then defeated Aarush Ganji and Lachie Macintosh of Tufts University, 8-6, in the finals.
In singles action, Dong opened with a 6-0, 6-0, whitewashing of Skidmore's Kyle Lundberg. His toughest match came in the quarterfinals against Tufts' Macintosh, with Dong emerging with a 2-6, 6-1, 11-9 win. Dong then took down two Middlebury players in the semifinals and finals, besting Noah Lewis, 6-4, 6-4, and Nathan Jackson, 6-1, 6-1.
Harrison and Walters both reached the finals of the 'A' singles tournament. Walters had an easier road, defeating Bates's Theo Sardain, 6-2, 6-0, in the opening round before Tufts' top-seeded Vuk Vuksanovic was forced to retire after Walters won the first set, 6-1. Harrison, meanwhile, survived two three-setters to reach the semis. He opened with a 4-6, 6-3, 10-8 comeback over Derin Acaroglu of Tufts, then edged Middlebury's Neel Epstein, 6-1, 6-7 (6-8), 11-0. Harrison couldn't weather a third-straight three-setter, though, falling in the semis to Colby's Joey Barrett, 4-6, 6-4, 8-10. Walters dropped his semifinal match, 3-6, 3-6, to Julian Wu of Middlebury.
Dong and classmate
Pierce Garbett (Coral Gables, Fla./Gulliver Prep) earned the team's only other doubles win, over a Bates pairing, 8-5, in the first round of 'A' doubles, before falling in the quarters to a team from Colby.
The Judges are back in action this coming weekend at the MIT Invitational.
