Tennis matches up against Cornell and Columbia

Both the men and women’s tennis teams faced off against Cornell and Columbia this past Friday and Sunday. While the men lost both of their matches in their first round of Ivy League competition, the women were able to pull out a win against the Lions after a loss to the Big Red, coming to stand 2-1 in the Ivy League.

Both the men (10-11 overall, 0-2 Ivy) and women (11-7, 2-1) kicked off the weekend with 2 p.m. matches against the Big Red.

It was the Ivy season opener for the men, who ultimately fell 4-1 to No. 24 Cornell (17-3, 2-1) in Ithaca. Though freshman Payton Holden was able to secure a point for the Tigers with a sixth singles-match victory, Cornell took the doubles point and three singles matches to top the Princeton men on Friday afternoon.

No. 22 Columbia (14-3, 3-0) posed another hurdle for the men two days later, as they took on the Lions in a home match at the Lenz Tennis Center. Although the No. 25 pair of senior Alex Day and junior Luke Gamble were just one point from defeating No. 87 Shawn Hadavi and Jackie Tang, Columbia was given the doubles point after wins in the two other doubles matches. The Lions also claimed the first three singles points in order to defeat the Tigers, 4-0.

Ivy League play will continue for the team next Saturday and Sunday, when the Tigers will take on Yale and Brown.

The women didn’t have much luck either in their first match of the weekend, as Cornell (12-5, 2-1) took their match 6-1 on Princeton’s home turf in Jadwin Gym. Though the Big Red clinched five singles points and the doubles point, senior Sivan Krems defeated Cornell’s Priyanka Shah in the third singles match to put a point on the scoreboard for the Tigers.

The female Tigers, however, bounced back from the defeat with a narrow 4-3 victory against Columbia on its home courts on Sunday afternoon.

While the Tigers secured the doubles point and three singles-point wins, the Lions took three singles match as well in a hard-fought battle to claim the overall victory. Freshman Gaby Pollner and sophomore Nicole Kalhorn each earned a singles point after the team’s early doubles-point win, and senior Caroline Joyce won the third singles match to seal the Sunday victory.

With a 5-2 win against Penn on April 1 and their loss to Cornell last Friday, the women now hold a 2-1 conference record, which they will look to improve next Friday and Saturday when they compete against Yale and Brown at the Cordish Family Pavilion and at home at the Lenz Tennis Center, respectively.