Frosh lead the way to a strong showing at invitational

With the conference season months away, this weekend was only the second time both the men's and women's tennis teams had their relatively young squads face competition. None of those handicaps, however, stopped Princeton from making a big statement at the Cissie Leary and Farnsworth Invitationals.

The Tigers hit the stage with guns blazing, progressing deep into the tournaments and giving their Ivy League rivals something to think about in the off-season.

The women competed in the three-day Cissie Leary Invitational in Philadelphia, Pa., with one of their highly touted freshmen advancing all the way to the semifinal round. The tournament was attended by Penn, Harvard, Ohio State, Minnesota, Penn State, Arizona, Temple and UMass. The Tigers competed in a 64-draw singles pool and a 32-draw doubles pool.

During the first round of singles play, Princeton advanced four of its seven competitors to the round of 32 —three of the four being freshmen.

Freshman Blakely Ashley won in dramatic fashion, as she pulled out a narrow victory over her Ohio State opponent. After losing 4-6 in the first set, she clinched a tie break for the second and then proceeded to win 10-7 for the third-set tiebreaker — a 10-point tiebreaker was played in the event of split sets.

Freshmen Melissa Saiontz and Sarah Huah, along with junior Ivana King, also pulled out convincing first round wins.

"Since our team is one-third freshmen, they've had to jump right into the rigors of college tennis, and we're proud of how well they've acclimated," senior Laura Trimble said.

The freshman power squad continued to turn heads as both Ashley and Saiontz, joined by King, advanced to the Round of 16. It was Saiontz, though, who really made her presence known.

After knocking off opponents from Arizona and Temple, Saiontz, who is nationally ranked No. 2 in the Under-18 division, found herself in the semifinals against Harvard's Lena Litvak. Saiontz dominated in the first set, but Litvak ultimately surged back and ousted the young Tiger by a final score of 5-7, 6-1, 1-0 (10-4).

Although the Orange and Black doubles squads didn't have any breakout performances, they advanced deep into the tournament and displayed a highly effective team dynamic.

"Everyone is playing well for the fall, and the level of team support is great, especially considering the individual nature of the fall tournaments," Trimble said.

The teams of Ashley and Saiontz, Huah and King and seniors Darcy Robertson and Joanna Roth all advanced from the initial Round of 32 with lopsided wins. The freshman combo of Ashley and Saiontz then continued to prove itself by pulling out an 8-4 victory over Penn State. Huah and King moved on as well by sending their Temple opponents home in a narrow tiebreak. Both Tiger squads fell the next day, though, in the quarterfinals.

Capkovic reaches final

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On the men's side, Princeton hosted the annual Ted Farnsworth Invitational on its home courts. Cornell, Virginia Tech, Penn, Yale, Rutgers, Columbia and St. Joe's competed against the Tigers in the two 16-draw singles brackets and the one 16-draw doubles bracket.

Like their female counterparts, the men took to the courts with poise and grit, as they ultimately sent four singles players to the Round of Eight in the A bracket. Sophomore Peter Capkovic, who was the No. 2 seed in the tournament, toppled Jared Drucker of Columbia 6-4, 6-4 after his first-round bye. Senior Sratha Saengsuwarn, who was the No. 7 seed, advanced as well. Perhaps the biggest surprises of the tournament, though, were the upstart performances of sophomore Alex Vuckovic and freshman George Carpeni, as they too advanced to the Round of Eight.

Capkovic soon stole the spotlight, however, as he surged past his teammate Vuckovic in the quarterfinals and Virginia's Lee Singer in the semifinal. He then faced the No. 1 seed, Jason Pinsky of Penn, on Sunday.

Pinsky, who is nationally ranked No. 55 in the NCAA, took the first set by a score of 6-2. Capkovic surged back in the second set, but Pinsky ultimately won 7-5 to take the title..