WALTHAM, Mass. – The #25 Brandeis University men's tennis team rallied from dropping the doubles point for the third time this season, as the Judges took five of six singles matches to defeat #26 MIT, 5-2, at the Cordish Tennis Center today.

TEAM RECORDS

• Brandeis, 9-4, ranked #25 in Division III by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
• MIT, 8-5, ranked #26 in Division III by the ITA.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Engineers narrowly took the first point of the match. The teams split 6-1 decisions at #1, which went to MIT and #3, which went to Brandeis first-year Muaz Malik (Dubai, UAE/Laurel Springs School) and junior Huasen Dong (Richmond Hill, Ont. / Richmond Green Second School).
• The visitors pulled out a win at #2, 7-6 (7-3) to take the early lead.
• The Judges quickly rallied at the bottom of the order. First-year Oliver Lorenz (Albuquerque, N.M./Rafa Nadal Tennis Academy) started with a 6-2, 6-1, win at #5, and sophomore Aidan Wang-Fan (Richmond Hill, Ont. / Bill Crothers Secondary School) won, 6-2, 6-4, at #6 to put Brandeis on top.
• After MIT earned a win at #4 to knot the match at 2-all, the top of the lineup put the match away for the Judges.
• Sophomore Daniel Shemesh (Modiin, Israel/Ironi Hey School Modiin) won, 6-2, 6-2, at #1, and junior Pierce Garbett (Coral Gables, Fla./Gulliver Prep) clinched the victory at #2, 6-2, 6-3.
• Malik completed the 5-2 win with a 6-2, 3-6, 10-8 win at #3 in the lone three-setter.
• Brandeis has now won five of the last six matches against MIT, including the last two by 5-2 scores.

UP NEXT

• The Judges take on UAA rivals Rochester on Saturday at 10 a.m. in a key match for seeding in the conference tournament.