Big venue, big wins in weekend tourney

What could be better than playing tennis where the sport's greats such as Andre Agassi and Maria Sharapova rally during the US Open? For the men's tennis team, the fun this weekend came not only from playing at the Billie Jean King USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y., but by placing sixth overall, beating out its predicted No. 7 ranking.

The ECAC Championships hosted 16 Division I schools, including the Ivies, in dual-match tournament play this weekend. Princeton eked out a tight 4-3 win over Boston College in the first round on Friday but fell to No. 2 seed Penn in the quarterfinals. Due to inclement weather, the final round on Sunday was not played at the USTA National Tennis Center, but instead on Princeton's courts. The Tigers defended their turf with a win, beating Manhattan 4-2 and earning themselves a sixth-place finish.

"We're a lot tougher," sophomore Alex Vuckovic said. "I say that because in the BC match at the ECACs, we were down 2-1 and all four matches went to the third set. We needed to win three out of four, and we pulled it out. Last year we were in similar situations, but we almost never pulled it out."

It was a weekend of digging up old rivalries, especially for senior No. 1 Peter Capkovic. After losing to Penn's Jason Pinsky at the Farnsworth Invitational last weekend, Capkovic sought revenge this Saturday during the quarterfinal round. Capkovic fell to Pinsky in the championship match in straight sets at Farnsworth but was not about to let history repeat itself. Tied after two sets, Capkovic won a critical 10-point tiebreak, earning a point for the Tigers. Unfortunately, his efforts at No. 1 were not enough to secure the match for Princeton. At No. 2 singles, senior Sratha Saengsuwarn also took down his Penn opponent, but the Quakers overpowered Princeton down the lineup.

Princeton started the weekend on Friday with a long match against Boston College, drawing on singles and doubles matches to secure the win.

Only playing best-of-three sets, not the typical best-of-five, three of the singles matches went to tie breakers after splitting sets with the Eagles. Freshman George Carpeni won a tight 10-8 tiebreaker at No. 4 singles, helping his team take home the win. Princeton swept the top four singles, dropping No. 5 and No. 6, and hung on to third doubles, giving BC the doubles point.

After enjoying the weekend in New York City, the Tigers returned home to take on Manhattan College to decide the sixth-place winner. Princeton did not run into too much trouble in taking down Manhattan, 4-2. Only singles were played since the Tigers won the necessary four matches to rule out the need for doubles.

Half of Princeton's lineup posted straight set wins over Manhattan at the No. 2, No. 3 and No. 6 spots. Vuckovic and junior Jonathan Leslie won their matches in two sets, each winning one of the sets 6-1. Saengsuwarn dropped only three games in his straight set win at No. 2 singles.

He has had a successful season thus far, advancing two rounds into last week's Farnsworth Invitational, where he was seeded No. 7, only to lose to the No. 1 seed, Penn's Pinsky.

"I think we can use the BC match to build on for the Ivy season when it really counts," Vuckovic said.

Princeton takes a break for the next two weekends and returns to competitive play Oct. 19, when the Tigers will travel to Philadelphia, Pa., to compete in the ITA Regionals.