Brandeis Judges
Coach: Ben Lamanna (12th season)
Location: Waltham, MA
ITA Ranking: #30
Blog Power Ranking: #23
Twitter Handle: @BrandeisTennis – much improved with the updates this fall, good work Deis!
Overview:
The Brandeis Judges are one of my favorite teams that I cover for a few reasons. First of all, they compete in the UAA, one of the best conferences out there. Also, being located right outside of Boston, they are right in the thick of NESCAC country, always setting them up for a strong in-season schedule. Coach Lamanna challenges his guys every year with a grueling schedule, and this year is no exception, with matches against Redlands, CMS, Stevens, Midd, Bowdoin, Bates, Trinity (CT), and Tufts on the slate, and that’s not even including the UAA Championships. The Judges had some moments last year that I’m sure they would love to have back, including 5-4 losses to Redlands (swept doubles) in the beginning of the season, a 5-4 loss to Case at UAA’s (were swept in doubles, won 4 of 6 singles), and a 6-3 lost to a Trinity Bantams team that had graduated a bunch of seniors. That being said, they also got a great 5-4 comeback victory over Bates, took out UAA foes NYU and Rochester with relative ease, and ultimately finished 6th at UAA’s, once again. With the Judges only losing one player to graduation, and a strong fall season, the 2017 season brings increased expectations.
Keys to the season:
- Win consistently at the top of the lineup
- Develop the young bottom of the singles lineup
- Play consistent doubles
Key Additions: David Aizenberg (3 star from Chicago), Mitchell Ostrovsky (3 star from Brooklyn), Benjamin Wolfe (2 star from PA)
Key Departures: Danny Lubarsky (#2 doubles, #5 singles)
Projected Lineup:
The Judges will have an extremely experienced #1-3 this year. If Michael Arguello can continue to build off his terrific fall season (finals of the NE ITA, semifinals at the MIT invite), he should be a great #1. Ryan Bunis and Brian Granoff are two extremely gritty players, and should be in almost every match they play. Moving down the lineup, although there is less experience, there is also cause for optimism. Brandeis won the D flight at both the Midd Invite (David Aizenberg) and the Wallach Invite (Harshil Dwivedi) this fall, meaning they should have some very solid options at #5 and #6. Here’s my projected lineup:
- Michael Arguello (sr): Arguello crushed it this fall, and with his big game (#LaserShow), if he’s striking the ball confidently, he’s the best option to win at #1
- Ryan Bunis (sr): Bunis is a great grinder, plays everybody tough, and should continue to be a solid option at #2 or #3
- Brian Granoff (sr): Granoff loves the battle, and showed some good flashes this fall, with a solid run to the round of 16 at the MIT Invite and two really good wins. Whichever one of these three seniors plays #3 should be favored in a good amount of matches, and Granoff is no exception.
- Tyler Ng (so): Ng rebounded from a relatively quiet fall with a round of 16 run at the MIT Invite, with wins over Zach Bessette (Amherst) and Christopher Wu (Williams). Look for Ng to be another solid option at this spot.
- Mitchell Ostrovsky (fr): A straight set win over Allen Jackson (Midd) and a 3 set loss to Alex Cauneac (MIT) at MIT shows Mitchell has the game to get in the Judges lineup.
- Jackson Kogan (so): Kogan was an off and on #6 player last year for Brandeis, and should slot in at about that spot this year. He took a set off Steven Chen (Wesleyan) at MIT, showing that when Jackson is playing well, he can take his game to new heights.
- David Aizenberg/Jodan Brodie/Harshil Dwivedi/Zach Cihlar: Aizenberg and Dwivedi both won D flights at tournaments this year, while Brodie/Cihlar are both sophomores with more experience. Any of them could crack the Judges’ lineup this year.
Schedule Analysis:
Schedule located here: http://brandeisjudges.com/sports/mten/2016-17/schedule
Brandeis starts its 2017 campaign as they usually do, with an early-season trip out to Cali. I like the way their schedule is set up, starting with good matches against Cal Tech and Whittier to adjust to outdoor tennis, and finishing with matchups against Redlands and CMS. After coming back to the snow, the Judges will host Stevens, who they have lost very close matches to the past two seasons, though they should be favored this year with Matt Heinrich’s and Ben Foran’s graduations. They will then host NYU in an important match for UAA tournament seeding, before then traveling on the road to Middlebury, Bowdoin, and Bates. After hosting former assistant coach Pauri Pandian’s Wheaton (MA) squad, the Judges will travel to Hartford to play Trinity (CT), before finishing up with Babson, the UAA tournament, and Tufts the following weekend.
Last season, the only strong win for Brandeis was Bates, which is really what kept them in the top 30 after their loss to Trinity. This year, the Judges should look for more, and should realistically be favored against Stevens, NYU, Cal Tech, Trinity and Babson. The next level of matches includes Redlands, Bates, and Tufts. If Brandeis can win one of these three, along with winning all of the first set, the Judges should finish the year a solid top 25 team, and should finish inside the top 20 with wins against two of those three.
The Judges also have the UAA tournament. Brandeis has finished the past five UAA tournaments sixth, seventh, seventh, sixth, and sixth, respectively. In 2010, the Judges had a great upset of Chicago and finished fourth, but after that, you have to go all the way back to 2003 to find a year where they finished in the top 4. The Judges will be hard pressed to finish in the top 4 this year, just because this means a first round upset of one of the top 5 teams, all ranked in the top 8 nationally. However, last year the Judges very nearly came back to beat Case Western in the fifth place match. Is this the year that the Judges can finally break out of their 6th/7th place funk? They graduate their top 3 after this season, so it should be a year with high hopes and expectations. Keep your eyes on the Judges! To finish off, I have to give a quick shout out to two former Brandeis Judges, Josh Jordan and Nina Levine, who were just engaged!!! Nothing like D3 tennis to bring people together. I hope Coach Lamanna gives a good toast at the wedding.
Announcing a @BrandeisTennis Engagement!!!
Josh Jordan @JoshJordan5 and Nina Levine @MindMapNina to be married! #yessah
— Brandeis Tennis (@BrandeisTennis) December 6, 2016
Where is the freshman talent!? The UAA is stacked with good tennis playing and attractive freshmen prospects and I don’t see this at Brandeis. Not sure of this Ostrovasky character’s dubs skills but if they are solid he could really help numb the loss of Lubarsky
Stalker Out!
Drake and arguello had the match of the year last year! Looking forward to more close matches
look out for their doubles teams. they had great success in the fall with some real good victories and losses to excellant teams in very tight winnable matches. the doubles success of the judges will put the judges over the top and i see a victory over Case finally in the UAA
Brandies will be tough this year. Always well coached. Watch out for the laser show and company!
Those are some pretty impressive fall results. Curious to see how their season plays out