REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Men's Tennis team got their 2024 season off in a big way Thursday night edging No. 20 Brandeis University 5-4 at the Verdieck Tennis Center. 
The Bulldogs used a pair of wins in doubles and split the singles matches to pull off the upset win. 

First-Years MJ Abarca (San Diego, CA) and Jax Ledwith (West Linn, OR) were paired together for the first time at No. 1 doubles and they ran into a tough match-up falling 8-2 giving the Judges their first point.  The other two eight game pro-sets went to the Maroon and Grey first with sophomore transfers Jack Fanshawe (Brisbane, Australia) and Dominic Anderson (Brisbane, Australia) using an early break at No. 3 to win 8-5 deadlocking the match.  The go-ahead point came at No. 2 from First-Year Nico Calixto (Cathedral City, CA) and junior transfer Yoav Nir (Tel Aviv, Israel) who would hold off a Brandeis comeback to win 8-6 giving UR a slight advantage heading into singles.

Brandeis would tie the match up quickly grabbing a point at No. 6 as Josh Davydov (Bellevue, WA) would fall in straight sets 6-2, 6-2.  Anderson would put UR back on top with a dominant win at No. 3 6-3, 6-1 and that then led to a win by Calixto at the top spot 6-3, 6-4 and the clinch at No. 5 from First-Year Gustavo Marcanth (Redondo Beach, CA) who would use a break in each set to win 6-3, 6-4 as well.

The last two matches on would go the distance first with Nir at No. 2 who would take the opening set 7-6 (5) before dropping the next two 4-6, 8-10.  The last point for the Judges came at No. 4 and it was a grind as Ledwith would rally from a set down only to fall 6-7 (4), 6-1, 4-6.           
 
Redlands has a quick turnaround as they host Division I University of Hawaii tomorrow, Friday, February 23 beginning at 9:00am at the Verdieck Tennis Center.