M. tennis has early exit

Blame it on the stress of midterms, blame it on the mid-season blues. But when it comes down to it, the men's tennis team was not up to snuff at the ITA Northeast Regionals this past weekend.

After a strong sixth-place finish at the ECAC Division I Invitational three weeks ago, the men's tennis team was expecting better performances from its top players. Despite the high hopes, not one Tiger was able to break into the Round of 16 in the singles or doubles bracket.

"The guys ran into some really tough competition and guys who were playing above their heads," senior Ted Mabrey said.

The ITA Regionals, held at Penn, are the Tigers' most important individual tournament. Boasting the best players from the entire region, the tournament offers the winner a chance to compete at an even higher level, Nationals.

"Individual rankings and a spot in the indoor national tournament were at stake," Mabrey said. "It was also an important weekend to try to establish ourselves individually for the spring."

Those who made it to the Round of 32, senior Sratha Saengsuwarn and sophomores Alex Vuckovic and Peter Capkovic, couldn't pull out the win in the third round to advance in the tournament. Capkovic, the No. 8 seed, showed a lackluster performance after being knocked out of the tournament two rounds earlier than expected. He won a tight second-round match against Georgetown's Anthony Tan, 6-4, 7-6, but didn't have enough to pull out the win against Yale's Mike Caldwell.

Vuckovic, the No.17 seed, faced a tough competitor from St. John's Louis Desmarteaux in the Round of 32. He lost 6-3, 6-2, in a drastic turnaround from his straight-set win in the second round.

Likewise, Saengsuwarn powered through his second-round match, dropping just three games. He lost in straight sets, however, to Penn State's Brendan Lynch in his next match.

"We were hoping to have guys win the tournament, it just didn't work out this weekend," Mabrey said. "Hopefully we can learn from what went wrong this weekend to continue to improve as we prepare for the spring season."

On the doubles side, Princeton entered two teams, but one withdrew due to injury. Mabrey teamed up with Vuckovic and eked through the first round with a tie-break win over Harvard's duo of Chris Clayton and Dan Nguyen After a long pro-set, it came down to just a few points.

"In the end, we were just tougher than they were on the big points, putting them on their heels," Mabrey said. "It was a big stepping stone to get a leg up on a team from Harvard as we prepare for the spring."

The second round proved tougher, however, and the Mabrey-Vuckovic duo fell to Navy's Jason Hill and Nate Nelms, 8-4.

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Despite the unexpected results at the important event, Princeton is staying optimistic for the rest of the fall season. The Tigers want to get experience and improve individual rankings for the spring season. Princeton is looking forward to entering some players in the ITA National Indoors and also the Big Green Invitational, both taking place the first weekend in November.