M. tennis defeats Penn in near-brawl, w. tennis drops match to Quakers

Penn.

The Princeton tennis teams had different expectations for the big Ivy opener. The teams ended their matches as far from parallel as possible. For the women, the Quakers were ranked with Harvard as the Tigers' toughest opponents, but for the men Penn was not touted as being the hardest team of the Ancient Eight to beat.The men's team, playing at Penn, finished with a 4-3 victory. The match began on an upswing as Princeton swept all three doubles matches. Senior co-captain Judson Williams and sophomore Tim Kofol won 9-8 at No. 1 doubles.

At No. 2 doubles, sophomore Dan Friedman and freshman Josh Burman won 8-3. While at No. 3 doubles, sophomore Hendrick Chasse and senior co-captain Darren Joe won 8-6.

After the good start, the men were prepared to establish themselves in the singles arena. Williams and Kofol won their matches relatively quickly (6-3, 6-2, and 6-3, 6-0, respectively), putting the Tigers at 3-0 overall.

Unfortunately, Princeton was unable to hold onto the No. 3, 4, and 6 spots, and the team was left in a deadlock with Penn with only junior No. 2 Trevor Smith remaining Tiger on the court.

Smith was up 5-2 in the third set when a line dispute occurred. The Penn opponent hit a hard shot which Smith called out. However, the Penn spectators, player, and coaches misunderstood Smith and believed that he had called the ball in.

The assistant coach proceeded to physically threaten one of the referees following the call and yelled at Princeton head coach Glenn Michibata until he was forced by Penn's head coach and the other referees to leave the court.

When Smith won the match by a 6-2 margin, Penn fans charged the court, amd the Penn coaches attacked the Tigers with verbal assaults.

Eventually, safeguards arrived to combat the violent behavior.

"Honestly, this was the craziest tennis match I have ever witnessed," Williams said. "Fortunately, no one was hurt." Despite the harsh ending to the match, Princeton (8-6 overall, 1-0 Ivy League) was able to take the win as an important one for the season as a whole.

"It was a defining moment for us as a team," Joe said. "We were away, playing in hostile conditions, and although we didn't play our best tennis, we won on guts and toughness. I'm really proud of the guys, and I hope we can carry the momentum to this week's matches — the most important of the year."

This upcoming Friday, the men will have their first home Ivy match of the season against their toughest competitor, Brown. A win could put them in good position for taking the Ivy title.

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Though the men have some time this week to prepare for their toughest match, the women may have already played theirs.

In a disappointing loss to Penn at home, the women, got a taste of one of the top teams in the Ivy League.

The match began with a rocky start. Despite a No. 3 doubles victory from sophomore Alex Kobishyn and freshman Stephanie Berg, the team dropped the first two matches and Penn took the doubles point.

Going into the singles matches, the women didn't have the confidence to which they were accustomed. However, a few of the players were still able to take their matches to three sets.

At No. 1, junior Kavitha Krishnamurthy won her first set 7-6 in a tie-breaker, but the Quakers took charge in the second and third sets to win 6-3, 6-2.

"I think it was tough for me to maintain momentum because I had won that first tiebreaker," Krishnamurthy said. "It was a long first set, so I had a little setback in the second."

At No. 2, senior co-captain Kristy Watson lost the first set 6-2 but came back to dominate the second set 6-3. However, the Quakers took the final set, winning 6-3.

The No. 3, 4 and 5 spots were taken by Penn in straight sets and Princeton was left with sophomore Mateya McCoy on the court playing at No. 6.

McCoy took her match to three sets, losing the first set 6-2 and winning the second 7-5. Then, in the final set, with McCoy up 2-1, the sophomore suffered a pulled groin as well as a shoulder problem which forced her to retire early in the set, leaving the Quakers with a 7-0 win. The loss put the Tigers at 3-5 overall, 0-1 in the Ivy League.

"Yale and Brown are good teams," Krishnamurthy said. "We hare going to have to play sharp, but we have had good matches against both teams so I think we know what to expect."