Tennis: Teams open Ivy League play 1-0

The drama of the weekend came from the men’s team, which was looking to start league play strongly and carry on the momentum from winning its last two matches in California during spring break. The match against Penn did not begin as the Tigers wanted, however, as the Quakers were able to clinch the doubles point when Penn’s Nikola Kocovic and Ivan Turudic pulled out a 9-8(7) victory over the No. 40 doubles pairing of Siow and junior Matt Spindler.

Princeton evened the score as No. 65 junior Matija Pecotic earned a straight-set victory over Turudic on court one. Penn bounced back with victories on courts three and five, however, as Phil Law and Jeremy Court defeated sophomore Augie Bloom and freshman Zack McCourt, respectively, in straight sets. Down 3-1, the Tigers had to win the remaining three singles matches, or they would open conference play with a loss.

Sophomore Dan Richardson defeated Rob Wong 6-3, 7-5 to bring the Tigers to within one, and then Spindler beat Kocovic on court two 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 to make Siow’s match against Zach Katz the deciding match. At 6-6 in the deciding third set, Siow fell behind 5-2 in the tiebreak but was able to hit four winners and force a missed volley by Katz to win in a tiebreak 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) and clinch the match for the Tigers 4-3.

The dramatic come-from-behind victory was not the first time Princeton has faced close matches in conference play. Siow cited last year’s many tight finishes as a reason for his crunch-time success against the Quakers.

“It’s a continuation of last year,” Siow said. “We have a ton of experience on our team and guys who have been there before. Last year we were one match away from winning the Ivy League title, and we won five of our matches 4-3, with a lot of them coming down to the final match. I myself was in a couple of those situations last year. When we get into that situation, we know we have a good shot of coming through because we’ve been there before and believe we can win.”

Siow is also a sports writer for The Daily Princetonian.

Despite securing a victory with strong play on the singles courts, the Tigers said they were unhappy with losing the doubles point and look to reverse the trend in the coming weeks.

“It’s always important to win the doubles point,” Siow said. “Last year we lost all but one of the doubles points, although we were able to squeak out many victories. We want to change that and start each match 1-0, so we don’t give [head coach] Glenn [Michibata] too many gray hairs.”

Before opening league play on Saturday, the women’s team had one final tune-up match on Friday when it hosted the University of Denver (9-8). Princeton defeated the Pioneers 6-1, as every Tiger that competed picked up a victory on either the doubles or singles courts.

The following day, Princeton continued its strong play by sweeping the doubles point, which included an 8-2 victory by the No. 29 pairing of senior Hilary Bartlett and freshman Lindsay Graff over the No. 49 Penn duo of Sol Eskenazi and Jules Rodin. Eskenazi was able to avenge her doubles loss by defeating No. 96 Bartlett 6-4, 6-4, providing the Quakers with their only point. Graff, senior Rachel Saiontz, sophomore Katherine Flanigan, junior Monica Chow and freshman Katie Goepel each defeated her Penn counterpart to help Princeton win 6-1.

Saiontz’s 4-6, 6-0, (10-5) victory over Alex Ion was the only match to last more than two sets, reflecting the dominant day that the Tigers had.

Princeton’s dominance over Penn is nothing new for Bartlett and Saiontz, who earned the distinction on Saturday of being a part of the first class since 1991 to sweep rival Penn during their four years of play.

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The men’s and women’s teams will continue Ivy League play next weekend as both face off against Brown and Yale. The men will host Brown on Saturday and Yale on Sunday, while the women will travel to Providence to face Brown on Friday and then to New Haven to face Yale on Saturday.