After close matches against ranked opponents in California over spring break, both the men's and women's tennis teams were defeated 5-2 by Penn this Saturday in their Ivy League openers.
Before visiting the Quakers, the women's team (8-6 overall, 0-1 Ivy League) pulled out a 5-2 win over Temple (12-3) on Thursday in its final non-conference match of the year.
Against the Owls, the No. 72 women quickly captured the doubles point and three singles matches to clinch the overall victory. After losing her second set, freshman Melissa Saiontz added another win to the final tally at No.1 singles.
"Once I won [the first set], I relaxed a little, which didn't work out that well," Saiontz said. "For the third set I got it back together, and it paid off."
The women's win against Temple helped the Tigers gain momentum for their pending Ivy League opener.
"It was really good to get the win," head coach Kathy Sell said. "We were excited to play a match so close before [Penn] just to get on the courts one more time."
Princeton, despite the extra practice, suffered a tough loss to the No. 57 Quakers (11-4, 1-0) in Philadelphia later in the week. The Tigers lost the doubles point and two singles matches to put the pressure on the remaining four singles players on the court.
After wins by No. 2 junior Ivana King and No. 5 freshman Blakely Ashley, the last two matches were Quaker victories.
"It was really a lot of fun to see the toughness of those four players on court," Sell said. "In hindsight, we got tough a little too late in the match, and it was too tough to pull out all four matches."
Brosens pulls through
In their first outdoor home match of the season at the Lenz Tennis Center, the No. 65 men (7-5, 0-1) quickly dropped the No. 1 doubles match to the defending Ivy champion Quakers, leaving two tight doubles matches in play.
Princeton eventually triumphed in the No. 3 spot, tying the score in the process. However, the Tigers lost at No. 2 to hand the Quakers the doubles point.
The Tigers responded with a strong start to the singles matches. They won five out of six first sets against Penn.
The momentum shifted, however, as Princeton lost five out of six second sets. After sophomore Alex Krueger-Wyman was shut down by Penn's Mikhail Bekker in No. 3 singles, Princeton dropped the next three singles matches in third-set decisions.
"It wasn't anything that we did wrong; it's just [that] they're a good team — they're the defending champions and of course they are going to fight back," head coach Glenn Michibata said. "When it gets to a third set, it's anyone's ballgame."
Though the overall score was already decided in the Quakers' favor, the Tigers did not give up in their remaining matches.
Sophomore Peter Capkovic renewed his rivalry with Penn's Jason Pinsky at No. 1 singles.
The two faced each other twice this fall, with each player winning once.
Capkovic seemed to have the first set under control as he served for the set point, but controversy ensued as his close first serve was called out.
After a successful second serve, Capkovic thought he hit a winner, but again the referee disagreed.
Capkovic overcame his frustration to take the set in a very tight tiebreaker, 11-9.
He then went on to win the second set, giving Princeton its much-needed first singles win of the day.
No. 6 freshman Charlie Brosens was the last player left on the court.
After splitting sets, Brosens was down a break in most of the third set before cramping up painfully and calling for the trainer.
The entire men's team was lined up on the sidelines to rally for the tired Brosens, the lone freshman in the starting lineup.
"Charlie's a baller," Krueger-Wyman said.
Brosens lived up to the title, recovering from his cramping to clinch the third set in a tiebreaker.
The men will visit Brown and Yale this weekend, while the women will host the same teams at Lenz.
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