#22 Tufts vs #10 Brandeis: The 9-mile rivals

D3 Northeast

#22 Tufts vs #10 Brandeis, Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

NE: Tufts and Brandeis aren’t considered by most to be nemeses. Two teams, both coached by friendly people that play in different conferences. But let me tell you, those “friendly” coaches have an innate deep-seeded competitive fire, and they’d like nothing more than go out and crush their crosstown rivals. Don’t be fooled by the difference in the ITA ranking above. I have these teams power ranked at #16 and #10 respectively, and no blogger has Tufts outside the top 20. Brandeis has been the darling of 2019 so far, but with the increase in pressure with every new match the glass slipper becomes more and more difficult to stay on the foot. This is Tufts’ first match of 2019, so I apologize but we can’t really do a match by match preview today. That said, we did get a nice little primer a couple days ago which gives some interesting lineup info. As NewRegional will detail, this match has been close every single year for the better part of a decade and at this point in the season, both teams have very real Pool-C dreams. One of those bubbles will burst on Saturday…

NewRegional: Wow, talk about jumping right into the fire! A difficult test for the Jumbos as they start their spring season, but also a great opportunity to score a marquee win early on in the year. Thought the two teams didn’t play last year, there is a lot of history between these two programs, and Tufts has dominated the matchup in recent years taking 5 of the last 6 meetings::

    • 2017: Tufts 6-3
    • 2016: Tufts: 5-4
    • 2015: Brandeis: 6-3
    • 2014: Tufts: 6-3
    • 2013: Tufts: 5-4
    • 2012: Tufts: 6-3

If past years are any indication, this will for sure be a close match that will come down to the end

NE’s 3 REASON WHY…Tufts wins the match

As I said, because we haven’t seen Tufts’ lineup, and given that theirs is one of the most difficult to predict, we can’t do a proper match by match preview, so instead NewRegional and I will be giving our three keys to the match.

  1. Sorkin for 2. While my next two points are a little more theoretical, this one is really quite simple. In order for Tufts to win this match, the Jumbos are going to need to rely on their stud. Enter Boris Sorkin, the #1 player in the country. #SaturdaySork needs to deliver two points or Tufts will be in trouble.
  2. Break the Revolving Door.  Tufts’ depth is more of a strength than a weakness, but they have to use it as such. Everybody has jitters playing in the first match of the season, but those jitters increase exponentially when you also believe you are playing for your starting spot. I have no idea who are going to play #5 or #6 for Tufts on Saturday, it could be any combo of Shaff, Gorelik, Bershstein, Bartok, Pentousis, Moldenhauer, Scanlon, Hereford or even somebody else I’m forgetting, but if the bottom of the lineup guys do well against Brandeis on Saturday, it should give them a longer rope moving forwards. This would not only bode well for Tufts on Saturday, but really for the longer term and the rest of the season too.
  3. Grind…grind…and grind some more. Look, Tufts has everything going against them in this match. Brandeis is tested, Brandeis plays great doubles, Brandeis doesn’t have any glaring singles weaknesses, I could go on and on. However, just because we saw Brandeis respond well when playing PP doesn’t mean they will be able to do the same thing again. The longer this match goes on, the more the pressure needle swings over to the Judges, so if Sorkin can put an early point on the board and the Bo’s can get another upset win, it will become harder and harder for Deis to mount the comeback.

NewRegional’s 3 REASONS WHY…Brandeis wins the match

  1. Doubles Doubles Doubles. In Brandeis’ one win in the last 6 meetings, the Judges road a doubles sweep to the 6-3 win. As this is Tufts’ first match of the spring, this is the first time some of their doubles teams will be playing together while Brandeis has already played 6 tough matches this year. Brandeis is one of the strongest doubles teams in the country, and if they come out hot the first couple games, they can grab hold of the match quickly and ride it to a W.
  2. Tzeng and Chen.  Adam Tzeng and Jeff Chen have been lights out at #2 doubles this year and have played a solid #4 and #5 singles. They will most likely be matching up against fellow underclassmen in singles, and both Adam and Jeff have already have their fair share of close matches under their belt. I think they both will be favored in their singles matches, regardless of who they play, and if they win their doubles match and get at least one singles point, Brandeis will win the match.
  3. Experience at #6. I think Tufts matches up very well with Deis at the top 3 spots, and I think the Jumbos will take at least two of those three matches. I’ve already touched on Chen and Tzeng, but unlike a lot of teams in the 15-25 region, Brandeis has a rock solid situation at #6. Whether we see the senior Ng or the sophomore Vohra, both Judges have experience playing and winning big matches. This is Brandeis’ strongest spot against which is likely to be Tufts’ most vulnerable spot. If Brandeis can take a doubles lead and add a quick point at #6, that will be huge against a fiery Tufts team that thrives off of energy and momentum.

FINAL SCORE PREDICTIONS

Just because we don’t know who is playing for Tufts doesn’t mean we can’t give some final score predictions!

NE: Brandeis def Tufts 7-2 (with a doubles sweep).

NewReg: Brandeis def Tufts 6-3

RegAS: Brandeis def Tufts 6-3

OGRegional: Brandeis def Tufts 5-4

Leave a Comment