M., w. tennis split Ivy League weekends against Brown, Yale

Despite the dreary unseasonable weather, tennis season is well underway. After a weekend of back-to-back matches, the men's and women's teams finished with 2-1 records in the Ivies. While the women traveled to Brown and Yale for the weekend, the men stayed at home for two of their biggest matches of the season.

For the men, Brown was expected to be the Tigers' primary competition within the Ivy League. The Bears lived up to their billing, defeating Princeton 5-2. The next day, the Tigers rebounded to defeat Yale.

On Friday, the Bears took the doubles point early on by taking the number one and two spots. However, sophomore Hendrick Chasse and junior Trevor Smith clinched a win at the number three spot, finishing with a score of 8-6. Chasse, in particular, had a successful weekend, turning around the match against Yale as well. For the season, he is undefeated at number three doubles.

With the doubles point secured and confidence high, Brown had little problem taking out the Tigers when it came down to the singles matches. However, Princeton left a mark at the number-one spot as senior co-captain Judson Williams handed the Bears a 6-3, 6-1 loss over Justin Natale.

Williams has had a tremendous season, undefeated thus far at number one. But despite some strong individual showings from the Tigers, Brown had a lot of strength in its singles matches, sweeping wins in the next four spots.

Senior co-captain Nick Benjamin did manage, however, to put another point on the board for Princeton, making the final 5-2. Benjamin made quite a comeback, losing 6-1 in the first set but winning the next two 6-3, 6-2.

"The loss to Brown on Friday was tough – this is definitely one of the best teams they've put together in a long time," said Williams.

The men then had 24 hours before they would face off against another Ivy tennis force — Yale.

The score ended the same, but this time Princeton was successful. After the 5-2 loss to Brown, the men finished off the weekend with a 5-2 win.

Early on, the Tigers established themselves by taking the doubles point. At number one, sophomore Tim Kofol and Williams handed the Bulldogs an 8-4 loss. And at No. 2 Chasse and Smith won in a tie-breaker 9-8 after being down 7-4 earlier in the match, setting the scene for the rest of the day.

The singles matches gave quite a showing with three of the four wins going on to three sets.

Again at number one, Williams proved to be consistent, winning the first set 6-3. He dropped the second set 6-3 but came back in the third set to win 6-1.

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Smith also had consistent wins in the first and third sets. The first set ended with Smith taking the win 6-4. He dropped the second set 6-3 but returned with a vengeance in the final set, winning 6-1.

Yale took the number three spot, but senior co-captain Darren Joe, like Smith and Williams, proved that Princeton was going to bounce back after the tough match against Brown.

After losing his first set 6-4, Joe defeated his Eli opponent 6-4, 6-2 to give Princeton another point for the win.

Finally, at number six, sophomore Dan Friedman won, 6-4, 6-0.

"Overall, I feel good about the weekend," Williams said. "I knew we would have two very difficult matches, with Brown and Yale being two of the better teams in the league – picking up the win over Yale put us back in good position in the league standings."

At Brown and Yale, it was much of the same for the women's team as they ended with the same results.

Against Brown, the Tigers lost the doubles point, even though senior co-captains Kristy Watson and Priya Bhupathi won their match at the number two spot.

With the doubles point lost, the Tigers had a great deal of pressure to maintain some momentum after their disappointing loss last weekend to Penn.

Junior Kavitha Krishnamurthy won a solid match at the number one spot, 6-4, 6-4.

At number two, Watson also had a solid match, winning in straight sets 6-3, 6-0.

Brown took the number three and six spots, but there were still a few battles left to be fought.

At number four, freshman Stephanie Berg won the first set in a tie-breaker and showed no mercy in the second set, finishing 6-2.

With the score tied at 3-3, the Tigers felt pressured with sophomore Jackie Arcario playing at the number five spot. Arcario won 6-4 in the first set and led 5-2 in the second but lost 7-6, then dropped the third set.

After such a close match against a strong team, Princeton knew that it could take on Yale. Like the men, the women finished with the same score as the day before, but this time, it was in the Tigers' favor, as they beat the Bulldogs 4-3. Princeton secured the doubles point as sophomore Vanti Bhargava and Krishnamurthy won 8-2 at number one.

Watson and Bhupathi also had a solid win at number two with a score of 8-4.

In singles, three of the four matches came down to three sets.

At number one, Krishnamurthy won a first-set tiebreaker before taking the second set 6-1.

Yale took the number four and five spots, but freshman Kristen Carlin won her match at number six.

With Princeton ahead 3-2 the two senior co-captains were the only ones remaining on the court.

"It was great because we had our whole team there to really cheer on Kristy and Priya so I think that helped a lot," Bhargava said. "Yale was just a really important win for us and I think it helped as far as team strength for us to be able to come together like that at the end."

Watson, playing at number two, had an especially exciting match. After winning the first set 6-4, he lost the next two sets in tie-breakers.

Bhupathi secured the win for the Tigers at the number three spot. After winning the first set 6-3 and then lost the second 7-5. With all of the other matches finished, Princeton swept the final set 6-2.

Both teams are now 2-1 for the Ivy Season, next weekend they will face Dartmouth and Harvard.