Tennis teams slam Brown, Yale to remain unbeaten in Ivy play

The men's and women's tennis teams trounced their opponents this weekend to advance to flawless 3-0 Ivy League records. Under the leadership of the men's team's own version of Pete Sampras, senior Ahn Ahn Liu, the team took out Yale and Brown with decisive 6-1 and 5-2 wins.

Liu, who plays No. 2 singles and No. 1 doubles, continued his perfect post-Spring Break record with two straight-set singles wins and two doubles wins with partner senior Scott Borenstein.

"[Liu] is outstanding at both singles and doubles," head coach David Benjamin said. "He's playing at a level where there's only a few players in the country at No. 2 singles who might be able to beat him."

Liu, who has a combined singles and doubles record of 34-10 this year, plays behind junior Kyle Kliegerman, another consistent force for the team.

"They're both great competitors with different playing styles," Benjamin said. "It's like having Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras on the same team. It's hard to say who's better."

Liu, who co-captains the team with Borenstein, looks to lead the team in more ways than just his win-loss record.

"As a captain, it's important that I try to be a positive example and not throw temper tantrums," Liu said. "And it's actually helped my game to be calm and not play emotionally."

Liu has certainly accomplished this part of his senior year agenda, consistently playing composed matches.

He partly attributes his success to this new attitude, noting that his ability to relax on the court and enjoy the matches helps his game.

"This school year I decided to just have fun," Liu said. "I'm not going to be Sampras or anything. There's no pressure."

Coach Benjamin also remarked on improvements in Liu's form and confidence in addition to his tremendous physical ability.

"He's just a smarter, wiser, older player," Benjamin said. "He makes it look easy."

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Following Liu's lead, Borenstein and freshmen Trevor Smith and Brandon Tung also had untainted records this weekend.

In dramatic fashion

The women's team had a dramatic 5-4 win over Yale Friday before coasting to a 6-3 victory at Brown Saturday. The Tigers split the singles matches with the Elis, 3-3, to put the match in the more than competent hands of the doubles teams.

Sophomore Priya Bhupathi and freshman Kavitha Krishnamurthy won quickly at the No. 3 position, 8-1, while senior Amanda Hastings-Phillips and junior Gailor Large suffered an uncharacteristic loss at the No. 1 spot. The win hinged on the No. 2 doubles match. Senior Jyotsna Vasisht and sophomore Kristi Watson thrived under the pressure to win 8-6 — over a team composed of Yale's No. 1 and 2 singles players — and keep their team in contention for the Ivy title.

"All the Yale fans were cheering loudly," Vasisht said. "We could've crumbled, but we blocked it all out. When we found out we were the deciding match, we played significantly better. We just really meshed."

Despite holes in the lineup, the Tigers followed the example of Hastings-Phillips — who stepped up to win, 6-2, 6-1, at the No. 1 position — to coast past Brown.

The men next head to Harvard Friday while the women host Rutgers Wednesday. For both teams, solid team efforts and Sampras-like individual play will be more than enough to give Princeton an edge.