After a packed month of Ivy League play, No. 39 Princeton women’s tennis (15–6 overall, 6–1 Ivy League) were crowned Ivy League champions for a fifth consecutive season this weekend. This win marked the 18th conference title in program history and punched the Tigers a ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
Throughout the entirety of Ivy League conference play, the Tigers only suffered a single loss to the No. 60 Pennsylvania Quakers (17–7, 5–2) in their first match of their season. That day, the Tigers were blown out in doubles and dropped the top two singles spots. However, this would be their last misstep of the season, as Princeton would go on to win six consecutive meets en route to the title.
For the rest of their season, women’s tennis ran the table in Ivy play. This included three wins over ranked opponents: No. 40 Columbia (17–5, 5–2), No. 52 Yale (16–8, 4–3), and No. 45 Harvard (18–4, 4–2) in the finale.
Against Columbia, Princeton would quickly bounce back from the Penn loss to sweep the doubles point and the first three singles slots to take the victory. However, it would be the back half of the team — the final three single spots — that would come in clutch against Harvard and Yale, winning five of their six matches in the victories.
This weekend, women’s tennis played with home-court advantage at the Lenz Tennis Center against Dartmouth (7–12, 1–5) and Harvard. The weekend play got off to a surprisingly rocky start for the Tigers with a doubles loss against Dartmouth early on.
However, the Tigers would turn the match around as singles began. Senior Maia Sung and first-year Bella Chhiv both quickly jumped out to straight-set wins in singles. The pair only dropped seven games combined, taking the lead and setting a dominant tone that the Tigers wouldn’t let slip away.
Dartmouth would manage another match win at the second singles spot, when Michela Moore beat junior Leena Bennetto to tie the overall score at two, but Princeton would quickly close it out after that. Senior Neha Velaga staved off a comeback attempt at the top singles spot and first-year Madeleine Jessup completed a comeback win of her own by taking her third set 6–0 to close the Princeton victory. This win for the Tigers put them one step closer to the Ivy League title and sent out Velaga and Sung on a winning note on their Senior Day.
Celebrating the Class of 2024.
— Princeton Tennis (@PrincetonTennis) April 20, 2024
Before the start of today's match against Dartmouth, a ceremony was held honoring Maia Sung & Neha Velaga.
So thankful for these two their contributions to the program over the years! pic.twitter.com/6fb0LMgr8S
On Sunday, women’s tennis closed out a victorious regular season. The doubles team of Sung and Chhiv defeated their Harvard opponents 6–4 to secure the doubles point and give the Tigers a strong start. However, things quickly took a turn for the worse for Princeton as the Crimson turned it around to win three consecutive singles matches. The momentum swung immediately as Stephanie Yakoff quickly dispatched Bennetto 6–1, 6–0, and Harvard also picked up straight-set wins in two other singles matches.
The Ivy championship was there for the taking for Harvard, as they had won a set in each of the remaining three matches and needed just one more match to clinch it. However, Princeton quickly mustered the resilience to close out the conference. Starting with epic comeback wins after blowout first sets from Velaga (1–6, 6–3, 6–2) and Jessup (2–6, 6–2, 6–1) in singles, the Princeton win was finally clinched by first-year Alice Ferlito (6–1, 1–6, 6–4) in a deciding singles match.
At the end of this season, seniors Velaga and Sung will leave behind a young team made up of mostly first-years.
“Honestly it was a great season, and we were super excited to win the Ivies. We’re focusing more on NCAAs now and trying to keep the story going,” first-year Tsehay Driscoll told the ‘Prince’ following the big win.
Princeton women’s tennis now nears the end of their season, with NCAA Regionals coming up on May 3-4. As the Ivy League’s automatic qualifier, they will make their fifth straight appearance in the tournament and look to continue their win streak on the national stage.
Josefina Gurevich is a staff Sports writer for the ‘Prince.’
Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.
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