Invitational opens season

With the nation's No. 2 recruiting class, sitting only behind Notre Dame, the Princeton women's tennis team means business, and its coming-out party is this weekend at at the Princeton Invitational.

The event, which begins this afternoon at the Lenz Tennis Center, will be a round-robin style tournament and includes Yale, Ohio State, Buffalo and Rutgers. Each squad will compete in four singles and four doubles matches. Action will be spread out over the three days, with only a couple ok matches being played each day. This is the first meet of the year for each school as they gear up for conference play.

With this fall tournament, and the handful of others that follow this year, the team hopes to prepare itself for a successful spring season, when Ivy League match play begins. This weekend's exposure to the Yale team should act as a good indicator of the Tigers' preparedness for conference play.

The Orange and Black will carry three freshmen on its nine-player roster — Blakely Ashley, Sarah Huah and Melissa Saiontz — who will look to use their debut in this non-conference tournament as an opportunity to ease the transition from high school play to collegiate competition.

The highly touted group will play a large role on this year's team. Saiontz recently finished third at the United States Tennis Association (USTA) clay court championships, where she competed in the under-18 age division. Saiontz, ranked second nationally by USTA in her division, also reached the semifinals in doubles play.

Though the women are all individually stellar athletes, Princeton can't be sure what the results from this weekend will be.

"This is a really good chance for us to see how we work as a team," Ashley said. "We're hoping to do really well this season. We have some really strong returning players, so it should be a good year."

The Tigers will be led by junior co-captain Ivana King and senior co-captain Darcy Robertson, who is expected to play in the first singles position. King will be looking to continue her success from last year, when she earned First Team All-Ivy in doubles and an honorable mention in singles. Robertson, who was a key player at the No. 1 singles spot last year, is again expected to provide solid performances and leadership for Princeton. Look for senior Laura Trimble to be a deciding factor in close matches as well.

Some tough competition at the tournament presents a good opportunity for the Tigers to gain valuable experience. In particular, Yale is a perennial contender for the Ivy League title, though this year they have been plagued by injuries and some unexpected absences. The non-Ivy schools should be strong too, as they draw from a large pool of players and have attracted foreign talent.

Still, the Tigers are hopeful they can pull out a win in the tournament, as they look to build on the 10-9 overall record they posted last year. Action begins this afternoon and continues through Sunday.