When people say "that's just the way the ball bounces," they usually mean to trivialize something. But in tennis, there's no trivializing the ball bounce — the way the ball bounces is everything. This was a problem the men's team could not overcome when it played at Columbia Sunday on the Lions' indoor clay courts.
The Tigers lost 4-2 in a tight match that, in the end, was decided by exactly those inevitable ball bounces. Princeton, which trains on hard courts, couldn't account for them against Columbia.
"The surface is really fast and slippery," sophomore Nick Benjamin said. "Their team knew exactly the right shots to hit. That makes it that much harder for us to win at every position."
The loss left the Tigers tied for second in the league standings with Harvard with identical 5-2 records. The weekend guaranteed an outright title to Columbia, which finished with a 7-0 league record.
No doubles trouble
The only matches relatively unaffected by the surface change were the doubles. Because most doubles points are won on volleys, the bounce doesn't matter much — the ball isn't going to be returned anyway. Princeton eased through this portion of the competition, 3-0.
The place where being familiar with the courts made the most difference was the singles competition, and these matches brought about the downfall of the Tigers, who lost at the No. 2, 3, 4 and 5 spots. Three of the four matches, however, had to go to extra games before the winner was decided.
"Had one or two points in one or two of the matches gone differently," head coach David Benjamin said, "we would have won."
Despite the team loss, there were individual highlights throughout the match. Among them were junior Kyle Kliegerman's victory at No. 1 singles and the No. 1 doubles win by seniors Ahn Ahn Liu and Scott Borenstein.
Kliegerman kicked off the singles competition with an unexpected straight sets win. The Tiger defeated Akram Zaman 6-4, 7-4. Zaman had previously defeated Kliegerman at the ITA Regionals last fall.
"That's the best tennis Kyle has played all spring," coach Benjamin said.
Liu and Borenstein teamed up for their final Ivy League doubles match to defeat the No. 1 Columbia team, which had not previously lost to any team in the region and were undefeated in Ivy play.
"I'm always amazed at how good [Liu and Borenstein] have become," coach Benjamin said. "They will be placed alongside some really special Princeton doubles teams."
Although both Kliegerman and the team of Liu and Borenstein may still be considered for bids to the NCAA singles and doubles tournaments, respectively, it is unlikely that the team as a whole will advance to the postseason.
Princeton overcame Cornell with a 6-1 win Friday. The Tigers swept five of the six singles matches in straight sets and gained the doubles point with wins at No. 1 and 2 doubles. Winners in singles play were Liu, sophomores Judson Williams and Darren Joe, freshman Trevor Smith and senior John Portlock. Liu and Borenstein and the team of Williams and Kliegerman were responsible for the doubles point.
"You can see how well we've developed as a team through the Cornell match," coach Benjamin said. "In the fall, we beat them 5-2, but almost every match went to three sets. This time it was very decisive."
Despite the loss, Benjamin is proud of the team and the way they played.
"We worked hard, we prepared and they played their hearts out," Benjamin said. "That's all I can ask."
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