Frosh to boost women's squad

There's a breeze in the air, the leaves are falling and the women's tennis team is taking to the court this fall with a new tournament to kick off the season: the Princeton Invitational. After the season opener this weekend at the Tigers' new outdoor tennis facility, Princeton will travel to three more tournaments for the fall season in which the focus will be on individual play and getting as many sets under the players' belts before the team competition in the spring season. Throughout the fall, the Tigers hope to improve on individual NCAA rankings and gain crucial match play experience before the spring.

"We can make a statement this fall and say, we're smart athletes, we're from Princeton and we can also compete with the top," junior co-captain Ivana King said. "The tournaments are one of the fastest ways to force yourself to get better and get back into the intense mode. You train early for the Ivy League matches that are important in the spring."

Even though the fall tournaments highlight individual rankings, the squad is excited to welcome the new freshmen and come together as a team.

"Our main goal is to come together as a unit and we want our freshmen to feel that they have support," senior co-captain Darcy Robertson said.

The senior support will play a big part in the team dynamic this year as the roster is mostly seniors and freshmen. The team has a lot to be optimistic about, since tennisrecruiting.net named it in the top 10 for recruiting classes. And since three players graduated from the roster last spring, the incoming recruits will have an immediate impact on the season. Princeton is welcoming Melissa Saiontz from Florida, the number two ranked player in the nation in the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Girl's 18 division, Blakeley Ashley from Delaware and Sarah Huah from New Jersey.

Though the team has high expectations and wants to train hard this fall so that it can be in the best shape possible for the spring season, it is still setting realistic goals.

"Rather than making winning Ivies our main priority, we are focusing on being the fittest team," Robertson said.

The rest of the fall season tournaments are the Cissie Leary Invitational at Penn, the USTA Invitational in Flushing, N.Y., and the ITA East Regional Championships at Dartmouth.

Good things come to those who wait and that is certainly true of the men's tennis team this year. Sophomore captain Peter Capkovic from Slovakia was cleared to play this season after sitting out last year due to NCAA year-in-residence regulations. The men's season is looking brighter as Capkovic, who will undoubtedly play at No. one, is now leading the team. He will bring a lot of experience to the team as he has previously posted wins over ATP pros and grand slam players. He is ranked number 102 in the preseason NCAA Division I singles rankings.

Capkovic will join the recruited class of '10 in the first match of the tournament-packed fall season on Sept. 22 with the Farnsworth Invitational at home.

The season continues with the ECAC Championships in New York City, the OTA Regionals in Philadelphia, the OTA National Indoors in Columbus, Ohio, and the Big Green Invitational at Dartmouth.

Though results in the fall do not have a bearing on team standings for the spring season, the Tigers want to make sure they take the fall seriously.

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"We want to establish our team as the best team in the league in the fall," senior captain Ted Mabrey said. "We haven't done that in the past which made it hard for us in the spring. We want to get swagger as we go into spring."