Spring Break
TENNIS: Squads split with Bates
by Ian Cutler
Sports Editor
Sports | 3/18/08
Posted online at 2:50 AM EST on 3/18/08
"[Lamanna] used [the conflict] to motivate me to win the super-tiebreaker." she said. "He kind of made me angry about it, and I channeled that into the end of the match."
The men's team could have lessened the blow of the 9-0 defeat had they been able to finish key points in doubles.
The No. 2 doubles team of Steven Nieman '11 and Dor Almog '11 and the No. 3 pairing of David Silver '11 and Seth Rogers '10 each lost 8-5. It took a tiebreaker for the No. 1 duo of Simon Miller '11 and captain Scott Schulman '09 to fall at No. 1 doubles to the Bates squad of junior Ben Stein '09 and sophomore Amrit Rupasinghe '10, the eighth-ranked pair in Division III and second-ranked tandem in the New England region.
"We had a tiebreaker in [No. 1] doubles against the second-best pair in the region, we were right there the whole way." Lamanna said. "Bates is a good team, and once you get behind them in doubles it's hard to come back."
In singles, the closest match came at No. 3 singles, where Schulman fell to sophomore Michael Reiss 6-3, 6-4.
The Judges picked up a tough victory the day before, defeating Tufts University 5-4 in dramatic fashion. Brandeis jumped out to a 3-0 lead after doubles play, but took just one of the first five singles matches to finish, leaving Miller's match at No. 1 singles against senior William Fleder as the deciding factor.
After splitting the first two sets with Fleder, Miller was down 6-5 in the third set but held off two match points with consecutive aces to force the third set tiebreaker. Once again, Miller had to rally, winning the tiebreaker 9-7 after breaking three more match points.
"You just have to focus on one point at a time; you can't focus on being down." Miller said. "Just play one point at a time; each one is big. I didn't think about what I had to overcome I just thought about winning each point."
Both teams play Babson College this weekend, with the women at home March 25 and the men on the road March 26.
The men's team could have lessened the blow of the 9-0 defeat had they been able to finish key points in doubles.
The No. 2 doubles team of Steven Nieman '11 and Dor Almog '11 and the No. 3 pairing of David Silver '11 and Seth Rogers '10 each lost 8-5. It took a tiebreaker for the No. 1 duo of Simon Miller '11 and captain Scott Schulman '09 to fall at No. 1 doubles to the Bates squad of junior Ben Stein '09 and sophomore Amrit Rupasinghe '10, the eighth-ranked pair in Division III and second-ranked tandem in the New England region.
"We had a tiebreaker in [No. 1] doubles against the second-best pair in the region, we were right there the whole way." Lamanna said. "Bates is a good team, and once you get behind them in doubles it's hard to come back."
In singles, the closest match came at No. 3 singles, where Schulman fell to sophomore Michael Reiss 6-3, 6-4.
The Judges picked up a tough victory the day before, defeating Tufts University 5-4 in dramatic fashion. Brandeis jumped out to a 3-0 lead after doubles play, but took just one of the first five singles matches to finish, leaving Miller's match at No. 1 singles against senior William Fleder as the deciding factor.
After splitting the first two sets with Fleder, Miller was down 6-5 in the third set but held off two match points with consecutive aces to force the third set tiebreaker. Once again, Miller had to rally, winning the tiebreaker 9-7 after breaking three more match points.
"You just have to focus on one point at a time; you can't focus on being down." Miller said. "Just play one point at a time; each one is big. I didn't think about what I had to overcome I just thought about winning each point."
Both teams play Babson College this weekend, with the women at home March 25 and the men on the road March 26.
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