Last weekend was one of the best the men's tennis team has seen. Going into the ECAC tournament, there was a lot of uncertainty about how the No. 3 seeded team would fare with three freshmen on the roster and a new head coach, Glenn Michibata. By Monday, all questions were answered as Princeton brought home its first ECAC championship in 20 years, and did so decisively.
Come Tuesday, when the Tigers rejoined campus life, they just could not let it end. The team insisted that the freshmen carry the trophy to all their classes, allowing everyone to share in the victory – or at least make the new team members suffer a little embarrassment.
"It was just awesome. I couldn't believe it was happening," junior Judson Williams said of the team's win. "When we got back, the freshmen acted like they didn't want to carry [the trophy] around, but I think they were kind of glad."
Even the tournament final was won by a large margin, as the Tigers trounced Virginia Tech, 6-1. The team's success was mostly due to its singles play. The top four players — seniors Kyle Kliegerman and John Portlock, sophomore Trevor Smith and Williams — went undefeated throughout all four matches.
"Our singles were super-duper," junior Nick Benjamin said. "They didn't even have many close matches."
First step
Princeton kicked things off with a 7-0 win over the University of Connecticut, followed by a 5-2 win over Brown in the quarterfinals.
The win over Harvard in the semifinals — played on the Crimson's home courts — was a big one. It marked the first time the Tigers have beaten Harvard in five years.
"We played a lot better against Harvard," Smith said. "There's a big rivalry there and we were a little more fired up."
Smith attributes the win to experience, noting that Harvard had freshmen playing in its No. 1, 2 and 3 singles spots while Princeton had all veterans in its top four spots.
Freshmen Hendrik Chasse, Tim Kofol and Dan Friedman rotated between the No. 5 and 6 slots. Chasse agreed that being a newcomer can make a substantial difference in performance.
"I was very nervous," Chasse said, who won at the No. 5 spot against UConn. "I won my first set easily but it was hard to finish. It was close in the second set because nerves got the better of me."
This does not seem to be a problem, though, for Kofol. After sitting out the team's slaughtering of UConn, Kofol took over the No. 6 singles spot for the rest of the tournament, winning all three of his matches.
Doubles troubles
Even with their recent success, the Tigers are still looking for areas where they can improve before the spring season starts — and they've zoned in on their doubles. Smith and Portlock are leading the way as the No. 1 team with Kliegerman and Williams working as a 1-2 punch at No. 2 doubles. The freshmen rotate to make up the third team. Even their weak point is respectable however. Princeton managed to win the doubles point in half their matches across the weekend.
"Our doubles is our weak link," Smith said. "Glenn has us trying out different strategies and it's taking awhile to get used to them."
Princeton felt that by the end of the tournament the doubles teams were starting to come together, noting that it won the doubles point over Virginia Tech, who had better doubles teams than their previous opponents.
Consistent play in both singles and doubles will be crucial in February, when the Tigers will travel to Seattle for the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. Princeton secured an automatic berth when it won the ECAC tournament.
"Our coach told us repeatedly throughout the weekend that it is our job to go after the title and not depend on wins coming to us," Portlock said. "We did that. We all stuck to our games and went after our opponents with focus and determination."
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