PASADENA, Calif. – Caltech's men's tennis team defended its national No. 18 ranking Friday evening, defeating No. 20 Brandeis University and improving to a 2-0 season record.

"What a match and battle out there today," said Head Coach Adam Clark following the victory. "Brandeis gave us all we could handle and just kept coming back at us every time we built the momentum. I was proud of how we responded in those moments and were able to quickly get things back on our terms."

The Beavers split the doubles session with the visiting Judges, with seniors Kyle McCandless (Lexington, Mass. / Lexington) and Daniel Wen (McLean, Va. / Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology) picking up a close 8-6 set win. Caltech started the singles session -with a 2-1 lead as injuries prevented Brandeis from fielding a #3 Doubles pair or a #6 Singles competitor.

Wen followed with another match point in #3 singles, defeating his opponent 6-2, 7-5, his second straight match of the 2024 season with wins in both singles and doubles.

Sophomore Andrew Zabelo (Florham Park, N.J. / Newark Academy) found momentum on Court 2 and picked up a 6-4, 6-1 victory, and rookie Eric He (Martinsville, N.J. / Bridgewater Raritan) surged ahead to a 6-0 win in the first set before his rival retired with an injury.

And in #4 Singles, newcomer Constantin Cedillo-Vayson de Pradenne (Paris / Lycée Jean de La Fontaine) prevailed with a 6-3, 7-6 (3) score to remain undefeated thus far.

"We took a lot of positive steps forward today and the guys really showed up in the big moments," Coach Clark said. "Just a great team win all around and the guys earned every bit of it."

The Beavers will wrap up the February portion of their schedule on Wednesday, Feb. 28 at 2 p.m. against Washington and Lee University.