There was no love lost between senior Josh Burman and his opponent, Mikhail Bekker, on Friday afternoon in the annual men's tennis grudge match between Princeton (11-5 overall, 0-1 Ivy League) and Penn (13-3, 1-0).
Tempers flared as Bekker made some questionable line calls during the first set. After dropping the first set, 6-3, Burman fought back hard in the second, tying Bekker at five games apiece. The match ended on a sour note, however, as the furious Tiger walked off the court after another controversial call on the final point by Bekker that gave him the victory.
Princeton dropped the match, falling to the No. 65 Quakers, 5-2. On Sunday, the Tigers rebounded to take down St. John's, 5-2.
Meanwhile, the women's team (7-6, 1-0) traveled to Philadelphia and earned an impressive upset victory over No. 58 Penn (6-5, 0-1) on Saturday.
Starting difficulties
The No. 75 men's team got off to a rough start on Friday against the Quakers at Lenz Tennis Center. Burman and sophomore Sratha Saengsuwarn earned a hard-fought win at No. 2 doubles, 8-6, to start the match. Penn's No. 1 and No. 3 teams, though, were too hot to handle. Junior Darius Craton and sophomore Ted Mabrey nearly came out on top at No. 3 doubles, but Todd Lecher and Brandon O'Gara escaped, 9-8.
The singles story was essentially the same, though there were a few bright spots for Princeton.
In the first game of Saengsuwarn's match against Justin Lavner, the phenom from Thailand slammed an overhead shot that Lavner managed to put his racket on and lob back over the net. Saengsuwarn was not willing to take any more chances and crushed the ball once more, this time sending it far out of Lavner's reach. The sophomore pumped his fist, and the point set the stage for his 6-1, 6-4 victory at No. 3.
Junior Hans Plukas, playing at No. 4, faced tough competition from Tas Tobias. Plukas managed to hang on, though, and topped Tobias in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5.
Craton took his foe to a third set but was unable to pull away at No. 2, and junior Andrew Lieu refused to give up before falling in a third-set tiebreak at No. 5. Junior Shannon Morales suffered a 6-1 defeat in the first set of his No. 6 match and manufactured a comeback in the second, but he was unable to overcome the deficit.
Two days later, the Tigers came back and defeated St. John's at home. Lieu and Plukas took the No. 1 doubles match, 8-3, and Princeton clinched the doubles point when senior Blaise Goswami and freshman Mark Gober dropped Morgan Bauer and Claudio Halim, 9-8, at No. 3 doubles.
The Tigers also found success in the singles matches. After facing tough competition in the first set from Louis Desmarteaux, Craton crushed his foe in the second and won, 7-6, 6-1. Morales notched a 6-2, 7-5 victory at No. 3 over Boris Chiporuka. Freshmen Andrew Husby and Christian Husby, seeing action at No. 5 and No. 6, respectively, handed their opponents straight-set losses. Husby won both sets in tiebreaks.
Having had its first taste of Ivy League competition, Princeton will face a formidable Brown squad this weekend in Providence.
Women pull an upset
The women's team extended its win streak to three with a huge victory in its Ivy League opener against Penn on Saturday.
After dropping the No. 3 doubles match, the Tigers battled back to take the other two. Sophomores Darcy Robertson and Joanna Roth took down their No. 2 opponents, 8-6. Princeton earned the doubles point following a closely-contested win by junior Jessica Siebel and freshman Ivana King at No. 1. Siebel and King won by a 9-7 score.
In singles action, freshman Christine Kansky scorched Michelle Mitchell, 6-1, 6-0, at No. 3. Robertson granted her opponent only five games, as she dropped Julia Koulbitskaya, 6-3, 6-2 at the No. 2 spot. Junior Alison Hashmall came a way with a three-set win at No. 4, crushing Shelah Chao in the final set, 6-1. King, playing at No. 6 took an early 6-1 lead but lost the second set, 6-2. She rebounded to take the match, losing only two games in the third set.
The Tigers' win was one of their biggest all year, as it came over a nationally ranked rival squad. Princeton looks to extend its Ivy record to 2-0 this weekend against Brown at Lenz.
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