#24 Brandeis Nips Wellesley Tennis to Close Nor'Easter Bowl
WELLESLEY, Mass. -- The fifth-seeded and 24th-ranked Brandeis tennis team outlasted seventh-seeded Wellesley, 5-4, in a marathon match to close out the 2014 Nor'Easter Bowl. The win gave the Judges (6-8) fifth place in the tournament, while Wellesley (10-8) finished sixth.
Today's contest was a re-match of a March 14th affair that saw Brandeis win 5-4, as well. Although Wellesley had an edge after doubles in this match, the result was the same, with Brandeis sealing the win in singles.
Brandeis got on the board first, winning at three doubles, where Allyson Bernstein and Marissa Lazar combined for an 8-3 win over Wellesley senior Kendall Tada and first-year Samantha Stone. The Blue stormed back, however, recording 8-4 wins at both one and two doubles to take a 2-1 lead.
At one doubles, junior Sojung Lee and first-year Carina Chen topped Carley Cooke and Roberta Bergstein, while at two, Wellesley first-years Andjela Stojkovic and Lina Ye defeated Simone Vandroff and Sarita Biswas.
In singles, Brandeis quickly tied things at 2-2 with a win at five, and then took a 3-2 lead by winning the third flight. At five, Vandroff blanked Tada, 6-0, 6-0, while at three, Bergstein was equally as strong with a 6-0, 6-1 win.
The Judges appeared to be cruising to the team victory with a win at two to make it 4-2, and grabbing first-set wins at one and four. Bernstein put Brandeis in the drivers seat with her 6-4, 6-3 win over Chen at two.
Meanwhile, Wellesley's Stone cut the lead to 4-3, with a three-set win at six. She topped Brandeis' Alexa Katz, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4. The Blue then tied the match, as Lee outlasted Cooke in a third-set tiebreaker at one, taking the match, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5).
The day came down to the fourth singles match, where Brandeis' Emily Eska and Wellesley's Ye had split the first two sets. In the third, Eska battled back from being down 3-2, and closed out the match with a 7-6 (5), 1-6, 6-3, victory to give Brandeis the 5-4 win.
Wellesley is back in action at the 2014 Seven Sisters Championship. The event will take place April 12th and 13th at Bryn Mawr College. Brandeis returns to the courts on Thursday, heading to Wheaton for a 4:00pm match.
Before the match, Wellesley honored the lone member of its class of 2014, Kendall Tada. Tada is a Biological Chemistry major from Hilo, Hawaii, who will head to dental school next year.
Other Nor'Easter Bowl Matches:
Championship: #1 Amherst 9, #3 MIT 0 - Box Score - Top-seeded Amherst cruised to its third-straight Nor'Easter Bowl title with a sweep of third-seeded MIT. The Jeffs swept doubles and then won all six singles (five in two sets) to earn the title.
Third Place: #4 Skidmore 6, #2 Trinity 3 - Box Score - Fourth-seeded Skidmore used a boost from strong doubles play to nab third place over second-seeded Trinity. The Thoroughbreds went up 3-0 after doubles and then grabbed three singles wins to seal the match.
Seventh Place: #7 Bates 5, #8 Babson 4 - Box Score - Seventh-seeded Bates outlasted eighth-seeded Babson in a tight seventh-place match. The Bobcats had a 2-1 edge after doubles and then nabbed wins at one, three, and six singles to earn the team victory.
Head Coach Brian Kuscher and Kendall Tada '14 before the match