United States Coast Guard Academy - Department of Athletics - Men's Tennis

WALTHAM, MASS.--(10/6/09)--The Coast Guard Academy men’s tennis team was on the road again for one last fall dual match, this time with Brandeis University. Brandeis had a program good enough to post a 5-4 win over the Bears last fall. This year they are awesome. The Judges won 9-0 and did so in dominating fashion. Head coach Ben Lamanna has added seven freshmen (three played in our match) and Nick White, a strong junior transfer from Trinity, to the team he had last year.

The one match the Bears were able to threaten was #1 singles. Sophomore Nick Martin played brilliant tennis and took the first set 6-3. Martin continued to play strong but Brandeis #1, Simon Miller, stayed even, and was able to break Martin’s serve to take a 5-4 lead. Miller held serve to win the second set 6-4. Martin fell behind in the third set super breaker 0-3, but fought back to even the score at 4-4. Brandeis took three of the next four points to go up 7-5. Martin played all out on the next three points hitting great shots - only to see Miller win them all with an amazing series of shots that included a topspin lob winner, an nearly impossible backhand overhead, and a nasty drop shot.

Previously unbeaten Blake Maurer lost to Brandeis freshmen Fred Rozenshteyn. Rozenshteyn presented an unsolvable response to the Maurer underhand serve as he mixed up returns that were hit hard and deep with deadly drop shots that barely cleared the net. Maurer hit plenty of winners on the full run, but not enough to overcome the Rozenshteyn strategy.

The Bears finish the fall season 2-3, looking forward to spring and the return of Greg Mitchell, possibly Wesley Figaro, and hopefully a mended Blake Maurer.