From Brandeis University Athletics

In a marathon back-and-forth match between two nationally-ranked men's tennis teams, #17 Brandeis rallied to defeat #25 MIT, 5-4, in the Gosman Athletic Center today. With the victory, the Judges improve to 12-3 on the season, matching last year's win total for the most under head coach Ben Lamanna. The Engineers fall to 7-6 on the campaign.

HOW IT HAPPENED – Doubles

• MIT started the scoring with an 8-2 win at No. 3 doubles by Tyler Barr and Victor Cheng over Brandeis rookies Nikhil Das (Smithfield, R.I./Moses Brown School) and Rajan Vohra (Glen Head, N.Y./North Shore).
• The Judges answered at No. 2, where juniors Jackson Kogan (Pacific Palisades, Calif./Windward School) and Tyler Ng (Great Neck, N.Y./Great Neck South) defeated Pablo Ampudia and Michael Zhao, 8-6.
• The Judges clinched the edge headed into singles play at the top spot as sophomore David Aizenberg (Highland Park, Ill./Highland Park) and rookie Anupreeth Coramutla (Monroe Township, N.J./Phillips Andover) outlasted Alex Cauneac and Albert Go, 9-8, winning the tiebreaker, 7-4.

HOW IT HAPPENED – Singles

• Trailing 2-1 headed into singles with the top three spots taking the court first, MIT looked to be in a hole as the Engineers dropped two first sets.
• The visitors tied the score at 2-2 as Cauneac defeated Vohra, 7-5, 6-2, at No. 2.
• MIT then rallied from their deficits at Nos. 1 and 3.
• Barr completed a 2-0 day with a 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over Aizenberg at the top spot.
• Cheng also went 2-0 as he came back to edge Kogan, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, at No. 3 to put the Engineers one win from victory.
• Brandeis's Das bounced back from his doubles loss to defeat Sean Ko at No. 4, 6-3, 6-2.
• Ng posted a 2-0 record with a 6-4, 6-4, win at No. 5 over Go, setting up a dramatic match at No. 6.
• Junior Zach Cihlar (Phoenix, Ariz. / Brophy College Prep.), playing in just his second singles match of the spring, faced off against Ampudia. Cihlar cruised to the opening set, 6-3, but Ampudia picked up an early break to take a 2-0 lead in the second.
• Zihlar stayed close, and finally broke back at 5-4 to even the set at 5-all.
• Ampudia responded with a break of his own to earn a chance to serve for the set, but Cihlar bounced back with yet another break of serve to force the tiebreaker.
• The players were even at 3-3 on the changeover during the breaker, but Cihlar won the first service point on Ampudia's serve after the changeover. He consolidated the mini-break with an ace, then won the match on a second serve by Ampudia to clinch the second set, 7-6 (7-4).