M., w. tennis go west for spring break, face top teams

The Tigers headed out west for spring break. There, the men's and women's tennis teams got a taste of California tennis and a chance to face-off against some of the best teams in the country before taking on the teams of the Ancient Eight later this week.

The men finished with only one win after a grueling week of playing four matches, but other than being swept by Minnesota, the Tigers played a number of close matches.

The team started the week going up against Brigham Young.

In doubles, senior co-captain Judson Williams and sophomore Tim Kofol won a close match at the number two spot against Jeff Olsen and Jeff Harbach with a final score of 9-8. Despite a good fight, the Tigers were unable to hang onto the other two doubles matches, giving BYU the doubles point.

With Williams out for singles, junior Trevor Smith stepped up at number one and won in a three-set match by a score of 7-6, 6-7, 1-0.

Kofol and senior co-captain Nick Benjamin also had wins at the number five and six spots respectively.

Despite the disappointing defeat, all was not lost. The Tigers went on the next day to battle Clemson and came out with a 4-3 win.

Princeton dominated early by taking the doubles point as sophomore Hendrick Chasse and senior Darren Joe won at the number two spot by an 8-5 margin. At number three, Kofol and freshman Scott Stewart also came out with an 8-6 win.

In singles, junior Trevor Smith had two tough sets, but came out with a 7-6, 7-6 win. Joe had a particularly successful day. After winning his doubles match, he went on to take his singles match 6-1, 6-1 at number five. The number six spot, played by Benjamin also took a near sweep with the same 6-1, 6-1 score.

The third match of the week was not as close. Playing against one of the nation's tougher teams, the Golden Gophers of Minnesota were not to be taken lightly.

Minnesota took all three doubles matches, with one close match at the number two spot by freshmen Josh Burman and Scott Stewart.

In singles, the Tigers didn't have much better luck. All singles matches were lost, with four of the six lasting just two sets.

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After the disappointing 7-0 loss, Princeton had one more shot at a win before ending the week.

For the final day, Princeton was up against No. 56 UC-San Diego. Princeton, No. 61, knew that it had the chance to win.

The Toreros swept all three doubles matches early on, leaving a lot of pressure on the Tigers to make a comeback later in the singles matches, and that they did.

Williams came back to reclaim the top spot winning 6-4, 6-4. Burman and Friedman also dominated, winning in two sets. Burman won 6-4, 7-5 and Friedman 6-3, 7-5 in the number four and six spots respectively.

The women seemed to parallel the men with one win and two losses during their week's trip.

Their first match was against Pepperdine. The doubles point was lost despite a close match at the number three spot played by freshman Stephanie Berg and sophomore Alex Kobishyn. It came down to a tie-breaker with a final loss of 9-8, but Pepperdine took the doubles point in the end.

The following match against the University of San Diego seemed like a repeat of the easy win against St. John's the week before. The Tigers were on again and although they were supposed to beat San Diego, it was a particularly successful match with three of the singles going into three sets. The Tigers ended with a final victory of 6-1.

Their last match was a disappointing 5-2 loss to Loyola Marymount. The team lost its number one player, junior Kavitha Krishnamurthy, to ankle injuries, moving each player up one spot.

Last week's action puts the women at 3-5 for the season and the men at 5-3. Given the caliber of teams that the Tigers had to play, they should be ready to battle Penn this upcoming weekend.