Tigers close fall season strong at Big Green Invitational

For any team that plays in multiple seasons, finishing strong is critical in establishing a good tone for the subsequent season. This was the goal for the Princeton men's and women's tennis teams over Fall Break. The women competed in the Big Green Invitational on Oct. 29-31 at Dartmouth, while the men competed in the Penn Classic on Oct. 28-30.

On the women's side, junior Laura Trimble made it all the way to the semifinals of the consolation draw of the "A" singles flight. To get there, she prevailed in a close three-set quarterfinal match against Laura Stiekema of Boston University, winning the deciding pro-set, 10-5.

"After losing the first set I became steadier and more patiently aggressive," Trimble said. "That was actually a lucky Princeton court. We had to play the backdraw outside — it was surprisingly sunny and warm for October in Dartmouth — and Kristen and Joanna had won their matches on that court before me."

Trimble would go on to play Ohio State's Angela DiPastina in the semifinals, where she would fall short by a 6-2, 6-4 score.

Trimble was joined by junior Joanna Roth, who had an impressive run to the semifinals as well. She ousted Seton Hall's Sylvia Yaros in the fourth round in straight sets and went on to do the same to Yana Sadovaskaya of BU before coming up short against Harvard's Cindy Chu in a tough three-set match, 6-4, 6-7, 10-7.

Sophomore Ivana King also had a good tournament, advancing to the Round of 16 in the "A" singles draw before falling short against Ashley Lipton of Syracuse in an intense three-set match, losing in a close 10-7 pro-set.

"My singles' loss came from not using the right strategy in the end and capitalizing on a few points in the second set. I lost in a three-hour match in a super-tiebreaker third set," King said.

King joined forces with Trimble in doubles, but they fell short in the Round of 16 to a duo from BU in the "A" doubles draw.

"It's fun playing doubles with Ivana because she's the shortest on the team and I'm the tallest," Trimble said. "Despite our height difference, we compliment each other well, but unfortunately we were just making too many errors."

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The men mustered solid performances at the Penn Classic.

Senior Shannon Morales plowed his way to the Round of 16 before finally meeting defeat. He served for the second set against the No. 2 Bogdan Borta from Manhattan College but was unable to close it out and ended up losing, 6-2, 7-5. Considering the circumstances, though, Morales' performance was stellar.

"Shannon has been dealing with injuries all this semester after being a regular starter last year, and this was only his second tournament of the fall," head coach Glenn Michibata said of the senior. "Nevertheless he played with confidence and conviction."

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Sophomore Christian Husby also turned in a good performance, making it to the Round of 16 as well. Husby won his first round easily, dominating Matt Struble of Temple, 6-1, 6-0. He would then push the No. 6 Diego Alvarado from Manhattan College to the limit in a tough three-setter, where he fell short, 6-4, 6-7, 6-4.

Morales and Husby also teamed up in doubles and prevailed against a team from Navy in the first round, 9-7, before falling 8-5 in a close match against a duo from St. John's.

"Shannon and Christian played doubles together and combined very well, especially considering that this was their first time playing together as a team," Michibata said.

Sophomores Andrew Husby and Mark Gober were the other two entrants, and though they both lost in the first round of singles, they joined forces in doubles to pick up a win over a team from Radford in a decisive 8-1 victory. Despite an 8-4 defeat to Brandon O'Gara and Justin Fox of the University of Pennsylvania, their performance was still solid.

Still, the men's and women's squads understand that there is always work to be done. It is impossible to be certain of what the spring season holds, but at least the Tigers know that they can build on their fall success.