The No. 18 Tufts Jumbos earned their third straight conference win with an 8–1 victory over Bates on Saturday. In a heated matchup between two nationally-ranked top 20 teams, Tufts took its first loss of the season against No. 8 Brandeis 6–3 on Sunday.
Against Brandeis, Tufts was the first on the scoreboard with an 8–5 victory by junior Niko Hereford and sophomore Rishabh Sharda at No. 3 doubles. Yet, the top Tufts duo of senior co-captain Boris Sorkin and sophomore Josh Belandres lost to Brandeis’ Adam Tzeng and Jeffrey Chen, 8–6. Brandeis notched the final doubles match to secure a 2–1 lead.
Then, in a clash between two nationally-ranked rivals, No. 2 Sorkin defeated No. 25 Anupreeth Coramutla at the top singles slot, 7–5, 6–2 to even the team score at 2–2. However, Brandeis battled back to register three set victories over junior Isaac Gorelik at No. 2 singles and Sharda at No. 3 singles.
With Brandeis leading 4–2, junior Paris Pentousis dialed in a 6–4, 6–3 win at No. 4 singles to wrest another point back for Tufts. Still, Brandeis’ Dylan Waters defeated junior co-captain Jack Moldenhauer 6–3, 6–2 to clinch the match for the Judges. First-year Corey Marley also fell to host Brandeis in a third-set super tiebreaker at No. 6 singles.
Despite the gutting loss, Gorelik noted the silver lining.
“It was really important for us to lose in a competitive setting," Gorelik wrote in an email to the Daily. "You could tell [Brandeis was] hungry and playing to win ... The opportunity to play a team that was competing at that level was awesome and what we wanted since last March. We are upset with the result but thrilled we got to compete like that against Brandeis.”
Against Bates on Saturday, Sorkin and Belandres led 3–1 before Bates’ Leo Kupferman and Cameron Kania had to retire at No. 1 doubles. Then, the Bobcats tied the match with an 8–6 victory at No. 3 doubles. Pentousis and first-year Mauricio Gutierrez closed out doubles play in a tight tiebreaker with an 8–7, 7–4 win to establish a 2–1 lead for the Jumbos.
Tufts went on to register victories across all six singles matchups in straight sets. Gorelik won at No. 2 singles 6–3, 6–1, and Pentousis emerged victorious at No. 4 singles 6–2, 6–2 to put the Jumbos up 4–1. Then, Sharda clinched the match with a 6–3, 6–1 win over Bates’ Alexander Gujarathi at No. 3 singles.
Sorkin, Moldenhauer and Marley also all tallied wins to complete Tufts’ sweep of the singles matches.
With just one conference matchup left before the postseason, Gorelik expressed that the Jumbos are looking forward to bringing their best.
“I’m extremely confident in our team,” Gorelik said. “We just need to keep up the intensity and belief in ourselves. There were moments in the match [against Brandies] yesterday where I really thought we were the better team. We just need to put it together."
Tufts is back in action against Connecticut College on Sunday, May 2. The NESCAC Championships will kick off the following weekend on Saturday, May 8.
