From Brandeis University Athletics
Brandeis University sophomores Michael Arguello (Brentwood, Tenn./Brentwood) and Jeffrey Cherkin (Melville, N.Y. / Half Hollow Hills East)reached the semifinals of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association regional tournament this weekend, marking the best performance by the Brandeis men under current head coachBen Lamanna.
Unseeded headed into the weekend, Arguello and Cherkin opened their tournament on Friday afternoon with an 8-5 victory over Russell Einbinder and Carlos DeBracamonte of defending NCAA team champions Amherst. On Saturday, they advanced to the semifinals with two more 8-5 victories. In the round of 16, they knocked off fourth-seeded Brian Grodecki and Alex Schidlovsky of Williams. In the quarterfinals, the Judges took down the duo of Palmer Campbell and Kyle Schlanger of Middlebury, the host team. Brandeis finally fell to another Amherst squad in the Sunday semifinals, the second-seeded team of Aaron Revzin and Michael Solimano, 8-4. Earlier in the day, Solimano had won the ITA regional singles title.
Arguello also had a fine showing in the singles tournament. He defeated Kyle Wolfe of Bowdoin, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, in the opening round, but fell to another Amherst player, Andrew Yaraghi, who was in the 9-15 seed line. Also winning his first-round singles match was sophomore Ryan Bunis (Groton, Mass. / Groton-Dunstable), who knocked off Middlebury's Courtney Mountfield, 6-2, 6-1, before falling to top-seeded Carl Reid of Colby in the round of 32.
Other first-round singles results saw seventh-seeded sophomore Brian Granoff (Miami, Fla./Gulliver Prep) knocked off by Bowdoin's Chase Savage, 6-2, 6-2, and junior Danny Lubarsky (Cleveland, Ohio/Hawken School) falling to the third seed from Middlebury, Ari Smolyar, 6-0, 6-1. The two also dropped a first-round doubles match to top seed and eventual champions Pierre Planche and Chris Ellis of Bates, 8-6.