Women's tennis rebounds for Brown win, then falls to Yale

When the women's tennis team attempts to rebound from a disappointing loss, it does so with a vengeance.

The Tigers lost to tennis powerhouse Virginia Common-wealth April 1, 4-3. In that match, senior Gailor Large — playing in the No. 1 singles spot — earned a victory over Martina Nedelkova 6-4, 2-6, 1-0. Nedelkova, who has consistently been considered one of the top collegiate players for the past few years, is currently the fourth-ranked tennis player in the nation.

So, beaten but encouraged, Princeton prepared for its Ivy League matchup against Brown this past Friday at the Lenz Center. The Tigers put their desire to rebound from a loss to good use, dropping the Bears, 5-2. The win was the first league victory for the squad. Princeton lost its Ivy opener to Penn March 30.

Against Brown, Large again played an impressive match, as she defeated Heather Young in the No. 1 singles match, 6-2, 6-3. Another powerful performance came from junior Priya Bhupathi, who defeated the Bears' Bridget Barbera 6-2, 6-0, in the No. 3 singles slot. Senior Anne Coates and freshman Jackie Arcario also contributed to the Tigers' victory as both won their singles matches.

The final Tiger point was the result of the inspired play of Princeton's doubles teams, as the Tigers garnered victories in two of the three doubles matches.

Although the Tigers were still missing their regular No. 1 and No. 2 players, Kavitha Krishnamurthy and Shikha Uberoi, due to injuries, the convincing play of the rest of the squad against a talented Brown team seemed to be a good sign for the rest of the Ivy season.

However, the winning streak in league play did not continue when Princeton met Yale Saturday. Hosting the Elis at Jadwin Gym due to the rainy weather, the Tigers fell, 4-3. One of the most notable aspects of the match was the return of Krishnamurthy, who played a complete singles match for the first time in this spring season.

Krishnamurthy, sliding back into her No.1 singles spot, earned one of the Tigers' three points by defeating Andrea Goldberg, 6-0, 6-1. Coates and Large, who won in third-set tiebreakers, earned the other two points for Princeton. The team of Large and freshman Avanti Bhargava was the sole winner for the Tigers in doubles play, so the Elis came away with the doubles point and the victory.