With strong finishes from a number of underclassmen at this weekend's Princeton Invitational, both the men's and women's tennis teams expect promising seasons.
Competing against Penn, Columbia and Temple, the men's team hit the courts Friday morning for the first round of the tournament.
Two wins Friday advanced junior Judson Williams to the singles final Sunday, where he fell, 6-2, 6-4, to Oscar Chow of Columbia. En route to the finals, Williams cruised past Penn's Eric Sabotka, 6-1, 6-0, then rallied into an all-Princeton semifinal round where he defeated fellow Tiger sophomore Trevor Smith, 6-4, 6-2. Senior captain Kyle Kleigerman lost his semifinal battle to Chow, 5-6 (4), 6-5 (4), 6-1.
Rainy days
Match play, which began Friday at Lenz Tennis Center, was relocated to Jadwin on Saturday afternoon due to inclement weather. Sunday's portion of the tournament also took place at Jadwin. For players like Portlock, who grew up playing tennis indoors during the fall, this change of venue came as a welcome sight.
"It was nice to play indoors," Portlock said. "In college, most dual matches are played outdoors. In the consolation finals, my opponent was from Florida so this time it was definitely beneficial to my game to be playing in Jadwin."
Portlock's opponent in the finals was freshman teammate Daniel Friedman, whom he defeated 6-5 (6), 6-1.
Youth movement
In doubles action, Portlock teamed up with Smith. Victories on Friday and Saturday brought the duo to the semifinals Sunday morning, where it fell, 8-6, to Columbia's Akram Zaman and Pavel Jefferson. In the doubles consolation round, however, the Tigers found success as its team of freshmen — Friedman and Hendrik Chasse — topped Robert Pringle and Ryan Harwood of Penn in a walkover.
"The team looks pretty good. We played well and got a hold of how we're supposed to play," Portlock said. "Every guy knows what to do on the court. It's interesting with two freshmen starters. They really fight like dogs — they're really competitive guys who will definitely help us out."
Likewise, the women's team boasts a talented group of underclassmen.
No. 1 singles player — sophomore Kavitha Krishnamurthy — managed to win her first-round match at the clay court nationals in Baltimore, but was unable to advance past the second round. Freshman No. 2, Shikha Uberoi, who is still recovering from the flu, made it to the third round of the Cissy Leary Invitational in Philadelphia, where she fell to Andrea Goldberg of Yale.
The rest of the women's tennis team stayed at home to host the Princeton Invitational, which lasted through Sunday at the Pagoda courts. Brown and Rutgers fell to the Tigers on Saturday. Princeton tied Penn State on Sunday.
Doubles play on Friday was divided into A and B brackets. Kicking off the season on their home turf, the Tigers dominated doubles competition, placing three of their doubles teams in the final rounds. Freshmen Avanti Bhargava and Matey McCoy faced Penn State's Kristin Nowicki and Teresa Whiteside in the A-bracket finals. In an all-Princeton match, freshmen Jackie Arcario and Alexandra Kobishyn played freshman Katy Milkman and junior Maria Livadiotis in the final round of the B flight.
Since she's still recovering from foot surgery, senior captain Gailor Large was on the sidelines helping coach the freshmen this weekend.
"We have high expectations for every game," Large said. "We have a lot of young talented freshmen this year. "
The women next travel to Providence R.I. for the Brown Invitational beginning Oct. 6.
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