Women's tennis has solid weekend at U.S. Open site

The Tigers were out in full swing at the National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows this weekend, flooding the women's "E" Bracket Championship with orange and black.

Meanwhile, juniors Alison Hashmall and Jessica Siebel advanced to the third round of the ITA All-American Invitational in Los Angeles before falling to a team from Jacksonville.

In the team's East Coast competition, freshman Christine Kansky defeated sophomore teammate Laura Trimble 5-7, 6-4, 10-6 in the "E" Bracket finals at the National Tennis Center Invitational on Monday. Head coach Kathy Sell was excited to have two players battling it out for the title.

"We met with [Kansky and Trimble] the night before the match and told them to finish off the tournament they started so well," Sell said.

The coaches made a conscious decision not to coach the women while on the court. It gave the two of them an opportunity to relax and not play with the added pressure that court coaching can bring.

Despite the close loss, Trimble was pleased with her tournament play. "I've been trying to play within myself," she said.

During her semifinal match against Kristine Harclerode of Penn State, Trimble began to find her groove.

"Things started really clicking. I started winning points and not just being passive," she said.

Her coach echoed the same sentiments.

"In Laura's semi match she was able to maintain her composure and maintain her game plan," Sell said.

She carried the positive momentum into the finals against Kansky.

"The last match, [Kansky and I] were battling out the points," Trimble said.

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She admitted she would have liked the opportunity to play out the third set instead of settling the score in an extended tie breaker.

That there were two Tigers in the finals, however, should come as no surprise.

"[Sell] has been pushing us really hard," Trimble said.

Before the tournament, Sell was not convinced that her players were ready to play in the more competitive brackets. With this in mind she placed most of them in the "E" draw.

"I thought it was more important to get matches," Sell said. "But Laura and Christine proved a point."

Kansky went on to partner with freshman Natalie Arcario and advanced to the finals of the No. 2 flight doubles where they fell to the team from North Carolina 8-3. The duo started off the tournament feeling as though they had nothing to lose.

"No one really expected us to win the first round," Arcario said. "I think that's why we won, just basically because we were having fun."

Kansky and Arcario, who are not doubles players by nature, had to work together and improvise throughout their matches.

"One of the big things about doubles is chemistry between partners," Sell said. "They were having fun with it and it totally clicked."

Kansky and Arcario developed a complex scheme of fast food menu items to communicate secretly on the court. Meanwhile, Arcario discovered a serve and volley side of her game she never knew existed.

Freshman Brittany Holland also added feathers to her cap. By advancing to the semifinals of the "D" flight, she won her first two collegiate matches ever.

The weekend was an altogether successful one for the Princeton women. Collectively, the team won 18 of its 25 matches. Sell was pleased, in particular, with the play of her younger players. They alone toppled eight seeded teams.

"Our freshmen and sophomores are totally stepping it up," she said.

Princeton will face its next test a week from Friday when the team travels to Philadelphia for the five-day ITA Regionals.