Men beaten by Penn, triumph over Rutgers

It was an inauspicious weekend for Princeton tennis, as both the men's and women's teams dropped their first games of Ivy League play to Penn. The men's team, however, rebounded by sweeping Rutgers on Sunday.

Men's tennis (5-9 overall, 0-1 Ivy League) opened the weekend with a disappointing 6-1 loss to No. 50 Penn.

Though the Quakers emerged with a decisive victory, the day was very competitive — three singles matches stretched into a third set and four featured tiebreakers.

"All the matches were pretty close, a point here or there. They could come through with that [while] we simply couldn't," senior Andrew Lieu said.

Penn's squad started the day strong, sweeping all three of the doubles matches and taking the doubles point.

Singles play began with junior Sratha Saengsuwarn against Penn's Jason Pinsky. The opening set went to a tiebreaker, with Pinsky winning. Pinsky then went on to easily take the second set and the match.

Senior Darius Craton lost to Penn's Mikhail Bekker in straight sets.

No. 3 Lieu gave Princeton its only point of the day, pushing Penn's Jonathan Boym to three sets before defeating him.

Following Lieu's lead, fellow senior Hans Plukas took his match into a third set. Unlike Lieu, however, Plukas could not emerge with a victory, losing to Penn's Joseph Lok.

Freshman Alex Vuckovic dropped the fifth match, losing to Penn's Justin Fox in straight sets after he forced his second set to a tiebreaker.

Sophomore Jonathan Leslie was not ready to let the Tigers go down without a fight. He closed the day, forcing his second set into a tiebreaker to send the match to a third set. Despite Leslie's admirable play, Penn's Jimmy Fairbanks came away with the final set and the match.

After Friday's disappointing loss to Penn, the Tigers swept Rutgers 7-0 on Sunday, with none of the matches even advancing into a third set.

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"Though Rutgers is not nearly as strong a squad as Penn, I am still very pleased with the team's performance," said Lieu.

Lieu and junior Ted Mabrey set the tone for the Tigers, winning the first doubles match against Rutgers' duo of Tyler Deming and Jonathan Wanono. Vuckovic and fellow freshman Alex Krueger-Wyman conquered the second doubles match.

The day was not quite perfect for the Tigers, as sophomore Mark Gober and freshman Jeff Luse lost the third doubles match. The loss gave the Scarlet Knights their sole victory of the day, as Princeton still earned the doubles point. Saengsuwarn, getting the Tigers' winning streak back on track, began singles play with a victory over Rutgers' Tyler Deming. The winning continued as Vuckovic clinched his second win of the day in the No. 2 singles spot.

Rutgers came within one point of victory in the first set against No. 3 Wyman, the only close call of the day. Wyman came back strong, however, shutting out his opponent in the second set. In the No. 4 spot, Leslie defeated Rutgers' Gordie Milchutsky.

Sophomore Andrew Husby won his first set at No. 5, 6-0, before his opponent retired. The day concluded with sophomore Charles Husby defeating the Scarlet Knights' Gabe Adams.

Like its male counterparts, the women's team (6-7, 0-1) lost its first Ivy League game to No. 42 Penn (7-4-1, 1-0), 6-1.

Sophomore Ivana King and senior Jessica Siebel got the Tigers roaring early by defeating Penn's Yulia Rivelis and Julia Koulbitskaya in the first double match. The Quakers however, pounced back, winning the next two doubles match ups to take the doubles point and began their domination of the day's match.

Junior Darcy Robertson began singles play losing a close three-set match to Rivelis. Siebel's second match did not go as well as her first, as Koulbitskaya defeated her in three sets.

In the No. 3 spot King continued her strong day, defeating Penn's Michelle Mitchell in straight sets to give the Tigers their only point of the day.

No. 4 sophomore Christine Kansky lost a close match to Penn's Alexis Plukas, who defeated her and senior Rankin Williams earlier in the third doubles match.

Returning to play after being sidelined by a knee injury, senior Alison Hashmall was the Tiger's No. 5. Hashmall lost her debut match to Penn's Raluca Ciochina in straight sets.

Junior Joanna Roth ended the day's play with a loss to Penn's Caroline Stanislawski. Though Roth left defeated, she came within one point of winning both the first and third sets.

The Tigers have a chance to rebound next Friday in their second Ivy League game at Brown.