Tennis: Women sweep at home; men lose perfect record

It was a pivotal weekend of conference play for the men’s and women’s tennis teams, as the men looked to build on an undefeated start in league play and the women needed to sweep their opponents to keep hopes of an Ivy League title alive.

The men’s team suffered its first Ivy loss on Saturday, falling to No. 62 Dartmouth 4-3 before losing to No. 24 Harvard 5-2 the following day. The women’s team swept its Dartmouth and Harvard counterparts, defeating Dartmouth 6-1 and No. 72 Harvard 4-3. The victories over the Big Green and the Crimson propelled the women to second place in the Ivy League, while the two losses the men suffered dropped them to a two-way tie for second place.

Understanding the importance of the match, the Princeton women (10-10 overall, 3-2 Ivy) jumped out to a strong start against Dartmouth (8-10, 2-2) on Saturday by winning the doubles point. The No. 36 pairing of senior Hilary Bartlett and freshman Lindsay Graff earned an 8-6 victory over the Big Green’s Sarah Leonard and Akiko Okuda on the number-one doubles court, while junior Monica Chow and sophomore Katherine Flanigan defeated Jeri Reichel and Theresa Smith 9-7. On the singles courts, Leonard avenged her doubles loss to Bartlett by securing a 6-1, 6-4 straight set victory and giving Dartmouth its sole point. Graff, Flanigan and Chow translated their successes on the doubles courts to singles play, while senior Rachel Saiontz and freshman Katie Goepel also defeated their Big Green singles opponents.

The following day, Princeton battled Harvard (9-6, 2-2) in a back-and-forth match for nearly five hours before finally defeating the Crimson 4-3. The Tigers appeared ready to take an early lead as Bartlett and Graff convincingly defeated the No. 48 duo of Kristin Norton and Hideko Tachibana 8-3 in doubles play. Harvard’s Samantha Gridley and Camille Jania responded with an 8-3 victory of their own, however, defeating Chow and Flanigan. Goepel and Saiontz battled the Crimson’s Hannah Morrill and Kelly Whelan for the doubles point, taking a tiebreaker 11-9 before falling 9-8(9).

Princeton quickly responded on the singles courts, as Graff overwhelmed Jania 6-1, 6-0 to pull the score even at one. The Crimson soon regained its advantage, however, when Tachibana defeated No. 100 Bartlett 6-2, 6-3 on the number-one singles court. Saiontz was the next Tiger to finish, defeating Natalie Blosser 6-1, 6-2 to tie the match score at two. Princeton was able to take the lead when Goepel defeated Sylvia Li 6-3, 6-4, but Harvard responded as Norton beat Flanigan 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 to make the match between Chow and the Crimson’s Samantha Gridley the deciding match. Chow took an early lead by winning the first set 6-3 but fell behind 5-2 in the second set. Chow battled back to force a tiebreak, but Gridley prevailed 13-11. Chow regained her resolve in the third set, however, as she was able to defeat Gridley 6-3, 6-7(13), 6-4 and clinch the match for the Tigers.

With the victories over Dartmouth and Harvard, Princeton’s hopes of a conference championship are still alive, but it’ll need help from its league foes as No. 27 Yale, which beat the Tigers 4-3 last weekend, remains undefeated in league play. Princeton will close out conference play next weekend when it hosts Columbia on Friday before traveling to Cornell on Sunday.

Coming off of four straight 4-3 league victories, the men’s team (12-10, 3-2) traveled to No. 62 Dartmouth (16-3, 2-2) on Saturday hoping to continue the streak. The Tigers fell behind early when the Big Green secured the doubles point, as the No. 44 duo of juniors Matt Siow and Matt Spindler fell 8-4 to Dartmouth’s Alex de Chatellus and Michael Laser, and sophomores Augie Bloom and Dan Davies were defeated 8-3 by Cameron Ghorbani and Michael Jacobs. In singles play, No. 82 junior Matija Pecotic continued to tear apart his Ivy foes by disposing of Laser 6-0, 6-1 on the number-one singles courts. Sophomore Dan Richardson also quickly defeated his Dartmouth counterpart, beating Chris Ho 6-3, 6-0. Princeton’s third point came from Spindler, who battled Xander Centenari to a 7-5, 1-6, 6-1 defeat. Bloom lost a tough three-setter to Ghorbani, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, while senior Ravi Yegya-Raman was defeated by Kipouras 6-3, 6-2. Dartmouth’s Brandon DeBot clinched the match with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Siow.

Despite losing to the Big Green, the Tigers entered Sunday’s pivotal match against No. 24 Harvard (19-2, 3-1) tied atop the Ivy League since Columbia, the only other undefeated team, also lost on Saturday. The Crimson jumped out to an early lead by sweeping the doubles point. The Tigers couldn’t muster much of a response on the singles courts, as only Pecotic and Bloom were able to defeat their opponents. Pecotic easily disposed of another Ivy foe, defeating Jonathan Pearlman 6-3, 6-0. Pecotic’s victory adds to his remarkable streak of 12 straight victories at number-one singles in conference play, dating back to last year. Bloom’s victory was a three-set grind over Christo Schultz, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. The only other Tiger to battle to three sets was Siow, who fell 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 to Alex Steinroeder, while the other three Tigers lost in straight sets.

Harvard’s victory over Princeton lifted the Crimson to first place in the Ivy League, while Princeton fell to second. The Tigers are still in contention for the conference title, but they will need help from Harvard’s opponents.

Princeton will wrap up Ivy League play next weekend when it travels to Columbia on Friday before hosting Cornell on Sunday.