Two Tigers compete at Big Green Invitational

If you glance at the men's tennis team's schedule, this past weekend seemed pretty busy — the Big Green Invitational at Dartmouth and the ITA National Indoors in Columbus, Ohio — were both scheduled for the same three days. Despite the busy agenda, however, only two Tigers actually competed this weekend.

Senior Ted Mabrey and freshman George Carpeni were the sole entrants in the Big Green Invitational. Princeton had planned to enter no more than four players because if more than four had participated, the tournament would have counted as an event on the team's schedule. Juniors Andrew Husby and Jonathan Leslie were slotted to play, but had to withdraw due to nagging injuries.

"For Andrew it would have been a good event because he hasn't played all semester due to a lower back injury," head coach Glenn Michibata said.

The rest of the squad was able to enjoy a fall break away from campus like most of the student body. The few that stayed, however, had a successful weekend in Hanover, N.H.

There were no Tigers competing at the National Indoors, the other event scheduled for this past weekend. Due to losses at ITA Regionals, no member of the Orange and Black qualified.

"It's tough for our guys because Regionals is during midterms, so it's really hard for them to focus on the matches," Michibata said. "Two of our guys had really good shots at winning but they didn't."

This year, the Big Green Invitational attracted players from many universities including Harvard, Manhattan, Marist, McGill, Rutgers and Buffalo. Carpeni competed in the A Flight Singles and also teamed up with Mabrey in the Doubles flight. Mabrey was seeded No. 2 in the B Flight Singles.

The two players shared success this weekend and it became clear that they are compatible doubles partners, something the team is happy to learn as it has been struggling with doubles pairings.

Carpeni dominated his first round match against Marist's Rolon Federico, winning 6-2, 6-3. In the Round of 16, he faced stiffer competition, but showed definite promise. After winning the first set 6-1, Carpeni was poised to dominate the second set and displace the No. 5 seed, Manhattan's Alvarado Diego. Diego, however, answered with a 7-5 second set win to push the match into overtime. In a tie breaker thriller, Carpeni fell 12-10.

"I have kind of mixed feelings," Michibata said. "I was disappointed that he lost — he had two match points, he had a chance to win. But then again, he is playing at that level where I can make that assessment. He fell short, but he showed the kind of tennis that could have won the tournament."

In the B Flight, Mabrey was seeded second and had success in his first two matches, placing him in the semifinals. He won his first match, 6-2, 6-2, against McGill's Vincent Menard, and then defeated Dartmouth's Matt Hartman, 6-4, 6-4.

"One of the things I was really happy about was his serve," Michibata said. "In his four years here, his serve has been an up-and-down thing. This weekend, it was a weapon. He was getting free points off of it."

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Mabrey wasn't able to make it to the finals, however, after falling to Harvard's Kieran Burke, 6-2, 6-4.

"That was his weakest match of the weekend," Michibata said. "He got nervous since he was one match away from the finals, and two from winning. He was tight coming into the game. It wasn't until he was down quite a bit that he relaxed and started playing. He was in such a deep hole that it was too late to come back."

In the doubles flight, Mabrey and Carpeni found great partners in each other. Their first opponents didn't pose much of a threat; they overcame them in a decisive 8-2 win. As if their win wasn't impressive enough, they bested their previous score, dropping only one game to Dartmouth's pair in the next round.

In the semis, however, Harvard's duo got the better of the Tigers with a close 8-5 win.

"That was maybe one of the biggest plusses of the weekend," Michibata said. "Doubles pairings are one of the things that we're trying to work out. This team meshed very well — their games and personalities match up. I'm going to let them play pretty extensively at the beginning of next semester."

All in all, it was a successful end to the fall season for the Orange and Black. The Tigers showed promise after coming into the season with a lot of hope.

Princeton has one of the best duo of players in the conference and now look forward to strengthening the depth of its ladder and improving its doubles teams before next spring.