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Men's tennis competes at Blue Gray National Tennis Classic

The Princeton men’s tennis team traveled down south to Montgomery, Alabama for the prestigious Blue Gray National Tennis Classic. The team split its matches with a win over Auburn on Friday before falling to a strong Alabama team on Saturday.

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The competition at the tournament was of a remarkably high level, as five out of six teams participating, including Princeton, were Intercollegiate Tennis Association ranked. Coming off a disheartening 4-3 loss against Rice University which snapped an eight-match winning streak, the Tigers looked to bounce back against a spirited No. 48 Auburn squad. Their effort to rebound did not start off on the right note as Alabama drew first blood by grabbing the doubles point.

One silver lining did emerge from doubles play, as the duo of Alex Day and Luke Gamble grabbed their first win against an ITA opponent, triumphing 6-4 over the 52nd-ranked pair of Marko Krickovic and and Edward Nguyen. Despite the unfortunate start, the Tigers regrouped and performed well in singles play. Sophomores Diego Vives and Kial Kaiser and juniors Tom Colautti and Alex Day sealed the comeback win for a final score of 4-2. The matches were tight, as Vives and Kaiser both won with scores of 7-6, and 6-4 respectively, while Day had a back-and-forth encounter with Alabama’s Conner Huertas del Pino. Day dropped the first 6-1, but dominated in the second, bageling del Pino. Serving for the match at 5-4, Day ended up getting broken to even the score 5-5. In line with the unflappable spirit of this year’s men’s tennis team, Day did not let this disappointment affect his next game, when he broke right back, before successfully serving for the match the second time around for a deciding 7-5 set victory.

On Saturday, a challenging Alabama team awaited Princeton. As was the case with the first match, Princeton dropped the doubles point, getting only one victory from the now promising-looking pair of Day and Gamble, who won 6-2. In singles play, the Crimson Tide (8-5) proved too tough, unfortunately, and the Tigers lost 4-1. The sole win from the Princeton contingent came from sophomore Luke Gamble who ran through Nikko Madregallejo of Alabama, 6-0, 6-1. Kaiser was locked in a tough contest, dropping his first set 6-1 but breaking back after slipping early in the second. Yablon was also still battling at the No. 4 singles spot, but it was too late as the top of Alabama’s lineup had already won the one, two and three singles matches.

Coach Billy Pate reflected on his team’s loss: "Credit to Alabama. They played a strong match start to finish. We had some chances for the doubles point and not getting that point made for a tough assignment. However, we hung in there and gave ourselves a good shot. Overall, it was a productive weekend against great competition."

Having traveled quite a bit in the past few weeks, including trips to Philadelphia, Houston and now Alabama, the Tigers can certainly look forward to their home stand this upcoming weekend, where they will square off against Indiana and Penn State.

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