Tennis: Close streak continues with more 4-3 successes

The No. 69 women’s tennis team (8-10, 1-2) didn’t fare as well against Brown and Yale, losing 5-2 to No. 53 Brown (16-4, 2-0) on Friday before falling 4-3 to No. 27 Yale (14-3, 2-0) on Saturday.

Coming into this past weekend, the Princeton men hoped to reverse their recent trend of falling behind early in conference matches. They were able to accomplish this goal on Saturday as they swept the doubles point against Brown. The No. 40 duo of Siow and junior Matt Spindler battled Brown’s Soufiane Azargui and Tom Deighton in front of the large crowd at the Lenz Tennis Center and were able to clinch the doubles point with an 8-6 victory. Sophomores Augie Bloom and Dan Davies came from behind to beat Brandon Burke and Will Spector 9-8 and provide the Tigers with momentum heading into the singles matches.

No. 65 junior Matija Pecotic built on this momentum as he quickly disposed of Burke 6-1, 6-3. Azargui and Spector were able to avenge their doubles losses against Spindler and Bloom respectively. Siow took Brown’s Sam Fife to three sets but ultimately lost 6-2, 4-6, 6-1. Senior Ravi Yegya-Raman defeated Daniel Hirschberg 6-2, 7-6 before Richardson ground out a three-set victory over Mike Hill 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 to clinch the match 4-3.

On Sunday, the Tigers fell behind early to the Bulldogs as Yale won the doubles point. Siow and Spindler were able to come back from trailing 4-6 against Daniel Hoffman and Marc Powers, however, to win 8-6. Pecotic continued his recent tear in conference play, annihilating No. 118 Powers 6-0, 6-1. The victory over Powers keeps Pecotic undefeated in his past 11 conference matches.

Yegya-Raman continued his strong play, defeating Kyle Dawson 6-1, 6-4. Richardson was pushed to the brink by Erik Blumenkranz by losing the first set 2-6 and falling behind 2-5 in the second, but he showed the same resolve from the day before and battled back to win the second set and sweep the third set 6-0. Richardson’s victory set the stage for Siow to provide the clinching victory, as he prevailed against Zack Krumholz 6-3, 6-7, 6-2.

“Just like last week, I knew it was on the line,” Siow said. “After [Richardson] won, Augie [Bloom] and I were still on the court, and now we only needed one of the two of us to win instead of both. That’s obviously a lot better position to be in than if Richardson had lost in straight sets and we had to count on Augie and I to come through.”

Being in a position to secure the match was not new for Siow, as he provided the clinching victory over Penn last weekend. Against Yale, Siow’s opponent hit a wall late in the three-set match and had to deal with cramps, allowing Siow to take the victory. Siow said he partly attributes his ability to outlast his opponents to the conditioning his coaches have provided him with.

“My match was a battle. It was a grind with a lot of ups and downs for both players,” Siow said. “It went the distance, to three sets, and finally Krumholz gave in, and he started cramping, which just goes to show what a great job our team has done preparing ourselves not only on the tennis court, but in doing everything we can in being in the best shape possible so when it comes to those three-setters, we’re focusing on the tennis and not whether or not we can finish the match.”

With victories in its first three conference matches, Princeton sits atop the Ivy League alongside Columbia. The road to the conference title will not get any easier for the Tigers, however, as their next three opponents are ranked in the International Tennis Association Top 75. Princeton will travel to Hanover to face No. 67 Dartmouth on Saturday before heading to Cambridge to play No. 20 Harvard in what may prove to be the most pivotal weekend of Ivy play.

“This weekend is going to be very tough because both Dartmouth and Harvard are ranked,” Siow said. “It’s going to be two tough matches on the road. We’ve had close matches with both of them the past two years.”

The Tigers could say that about most of their Ivy League contests, though, as now nine of their last 10 matches have been by 4-3 scores.

“If I had to guess, it will come down to a couple points like it always does, so we have to focus on having a good week of practice and being the most prepared we can,” Siow said. “If we do that, I know that when we get into those tight situations everyone on our team will come through.”

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The odds of the women’s team repeating as Ivy champions took a hit this weekend as it fell to 1-2 in conference play with a 5-2 loss to Brown and a 4-3 loss to Yale. The Tigers got off to a strong start against the Bears as they swept the doubles point, including a dominant 8-2 victory from the No. 29 doubles pairing of senior Hilary Bartlett and freshman Lindsay Graff over Jessica Harrow and Cassandra Herzberg. The Bears were able to take five out of the six singles matches, however, with Graff providing the sole victory over Herzberg, 6-1, 6-2.

The following day Graff, sophomore Katherine Flanigan, and freshman Katie Goepel were able to beat their Yale counterparts on the singles courts, but with Yale sweeping the doubles point, Princeton’s three singles victories proved to not be enough as Yale won the match 4-3.

The Princeton women continue Ivy play next weekend as they host Dartmouth and Harvard.