POUGHKEEPSIE, Mass. – The Brandeis University swimming and diving teams picked up six  individual wins in their 2026-27 season opener, but the Judges lost their dual meets against Vassar College. The women dropped a 183-94 decision, while the men fell 173-76.

TEAM RECORDS

• Brandeis: Women, 0-1; Men, 0-1.
• Vassar: Women, 1-0; Men, 1-0.

TOP PERFORMERS

• In the pool, a pair of newcomers earned two of the team's six victories.
• First-year Yolanda Liu (New Taipei City, Taiwan/VIS International Experimental Education) captured the 100-yard backstroke for the women with a time of 1:01.82, winning by about one-and-a-half seconds. Liu was also the runner-up in the 200 individual medley with a time of 2:18.28.
• For the men, sophomore transfer Artur Berezkin (Nahariyya, Israel/Rabin) captured the 200-yard breaststroke with a time of 2:14.82 with a margin of victory of 0.48 seconds. He was also third in the 200 freestyle in 1:54.53, just getting out-touched for second place by six-hundredths of a second.
• Both Brandeis divers earned two wins in their events. For the women, sophomore Ivana Marinkovic (Malden, Mass./Malden) took the one-meter event with a score of 175.20 and the three-meters with a mark of 167.55. The men saw first-year Eitan Finkel (West Vancouver, B.C./Canada École Sentinel Secondary) win the one-meter with a score of 259.05 and the three-meters with a mark of 233.85.
• First-year Aretina Zhang (Newton, Mass./Newton) had two runner-up performances, coming in second in both breaststroke races. She turned in a time of 1:13.33 in the 100 and 2:40.38 in the 200.

UP NEXT

• The Judges compete at WPI on Friday, October 30^th with a multi-meet at WPI.