From Brandeis University Athletics

The Brandeis University men's tennis team, ranked #35 in Division III, defeated a team ranked ahead of them for the first time this season today, as the Judges rode a double sweep to a 6-3 win over 23rd-ranked Tufts University. Brandeis improves to 5-7 on the season, while Tufts falls to 3-2. The win was Brandeis's first over Tufts since 2010. 

Playing on three indoor courts at the Gosman Center, Brandeis got off to a hot start with doubles. Sophomore Brian Granoff (Miami, Fla./Gulliver Prep) and junior Danny Lubarsky (Cleveland, Ohio/Hawken School) opened the scoring with an 8-3 win at No. 2. A pair of rookies, Eric Goldberg (Solon, Ohio/Solon) and Ethan Saal (Scarsdale, N.Y./Abraham Joshua Heschel School), playing together for just the second time all season, won 8-5 at No. 3 for the Judges' second point.

At No. 1, sophomores Jeffrey Cherkin (Melville, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East) and Michael Arguello(Brentwood, Tenn./Brentwood) moved into the top slot for only the second time all season. Facing the Jumbos' Nik Telkedzhiev and Brian Tan, the Brandeis duo won the last three games of the set to earn a 9-7 victory. 

In singles action, the Judges made quick work of the visitors at the top two spots in the lineup to clinch victory. Arguello defeated Ben Battle, 6-1, 6-3, at No. 2 to get Brandeis within one point of the upset. At No. 1, Granoff won the first set at love against Telkedzhiev, but was broken early in the second to fall behind, 2-0. Granoff reeled off six more in a row to give Brandeis their fifth win of the day.

Senior Alec Siegel (Deerfield, Ill./Deerfield) would earn the team's last point with the longest match of the day at No. 4 singles, fending off Tufts's Rohan Gupte, 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 10-7 in a third-set super-tiebreaker.