Babkes won his first- and second-round matches in straight sets, defeating Mark Egan of MIT and Ted Haley of Williams College 6-3, 6-3 and 6-1, 6-1, respectively. Babkes' next three opponents hailed from defending national champion and NESCAC rival Middlebury College. Ari Beilin managed to take a set from Babkes but succumbed in the end, 6-3, 5-7, 6-2. Panther Salih Unsal yielded more easily, falling to Babkes in straight sets in the quarterfinals. In the end, the third Middlebury match was the charm for the Panthers as eventual champion Brian Waldron defeated Babkes in a hard-fought three sets, the first of which was a tiebreaker.
Sophomore Lenny Lepner and first-year Geoff Schwartz won their first-round singles matches but fell in the second round. The pair teamed up in doubles competition and did not advance beyond the second round of play.
Yesterday Amherst hosted Brandeis University in the Jeffs' first dual match of the year. The Jeffs overpowered the Judges, coming away with a 7-0 win. Babkes, Lepner, Mike Mintz '08, Schwartz, captain Max Rettig '05 and Jeff Lawrence '07 won at first through sixth singles, respectively. Schwartz and Lepner, Lawrence and Mintz and rookies Tal Avrahami and Jeff Wan earned the doubles point in the first through third doubles spots, respectively.
Three more matches remain in the fall season. "They should be a good chance to hone our competitiveness and work on our games against some teams we should be able to beat that are good teams," said Rettig.