Men's tennis ends season with pair of Ivy League wins

It was the final match of the season and no one could compete with the men's tennis team. It put up a tough last fight to take third place in the Ivy League.

...After a sweep on Friday a-gainst Colum-bia, followed by a 6-1 win on Saturday over Cornell, the men couldn't have asked for a better ending to their season.

On Friday, the Tigers went into their competition against Colum-bia with a vengeance, since they had lost to the Lions the past two years in a row.

"[Columbia] had beaten us the last two times for the Ivy title," sophomore Dan Friedman said, "but we knew if we were focused, we had a shot at beating them."

Princeton won two of three doubles matches. At No. 2, sophomore Hendrick Chasse and junior Trevor Smith won a close match, 8-6. Friedman and freshman Josh Burman, playing at No. 3, handed the Lions an 8-4 loss, giving Princeton the doubles point.

But the magic didn't stop there. The men went on to sweep every singles match. Three of those victories were won in three sets.

Senior co-captain Judson Williams — who leads the team in wins — beat Oscar Chow at No. 1 in three sets, winning the first 6-1 and losing the second 6-2. In the third set, Williams came back to finish off Chow 6-2.

Smith also had a successful match playing at No. 2. He finished early with a 6-1, 6-4 win over his opponent. That score was repeated at the No. 3 spot as Burman earned another 6-1, 6-4 victory.

Senior co-captain Darren Joe carried the momentum into his match, as he defeated his opponent in the first set 6-4 and went on for a close 7-5 victory in the second set.

In the No. 5 spot, the Tigers had another tough match that extended to three sets. In the end, however, Princeton was the victor.

Sophomore Tim Kofol won his first set 6-2. In the second set, Columbia reversed the situation, handing Kofol a 6-2 loss. Kofol bounced back, however, for a strong 6-3 finish at the end of the match.

At No. 6, senior co-captain Nick Benjamin faced off against a tough Columbia opponent and suffered a similar fate. The first set ended in a close tie-breaker, with Benjamin pulling out the win, 7-6. The second set, however, proved to be a harder fight, and Benjamin lost, 6-3. Benjamin rebounded in the final set to win 6-4.

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On that note, the Tigers had a good deal of confidence going into their final match of the season against Cornell.

"For the Cornell game, it was a big deal since we were playing them for third place in the Ivies," Friedman said. "We were disappointed since we always go into the season wanting to win Ivies, but this was a respectably good finish."

Princeton took two of the three doubles matches. At No. 1, Williams and Kofol beat their opponent 8-6, and at No. 3, Friedman and Burman came out with a 9-7 victory.

"It came down to Judson and Tim's match [for the doubles point]," Joe said. "They play a really unorthodox style of doubles and it paid off late in the match. They just scrapped and did whatever it took to win that match."

After gaining the doubles point, the rest of the match was similar to Friday's.

Williams won his match at No. 1, 6-3, 6-3. After beating two of the top players in the Ivy League and finishing with a 6-1 Ivy record, Williams was given the chance to continue to play at NCAAs.

Smith had a successful end to his season as well, winning his sets 6-1 and 6-3.

At No. 3, Burman won 6-2, 6-0, and, at No. 5, Kofol won 6-3, 6-2.

The only matches taken to three sets were at No. 4 and No. 6. Although the team didn't gain the point for the No. 4 spot, the Tigers put up a good fight, as Joe won the second set in a straight 6-0 win. His opponent, however, barely slipped by with a win in the final set, 6-4.

At No. 6, Friedman had another close three-set match. He lost the first set 6-4 but went on to have a close 7-5 win in the second set. The final set, ending early with a score of 1-0, was given to Princeton.Princeton ended its season with a 5-2 record in Ivy League play, with its only losses coming against Brown and Harvard. The Tigers finished third in the Ancient Eight.