Men beat Ivy rivals on road

The men's tennis team (9-5 overall, 2-1 Ivy League) broke its three-match losing streak this weekend with two big road wins over Ivy League foes Brown and Yale. The women (9-7, 1-2), meanwhile, split their weekend at home between shutting out Brown and falling to Yale.

The No. 75 men opened weekend play at No. 69 Brown (15-8, 0-2) on Friday and came out with a 5-2 win over the Bears.

Brown swept the Tigers in doubles, capturing all three matches by the same 8-4 score. In singles, however, Princeton raised its level of play to take five of the six matches. After sophomore No. 4 Alex Krueger-Wyman, freshman No. 3 George Carpeni and sophomore No.1 Peter Capkovic won in straight sets, senior captain Sratha Saengsuwarn secured the overall victory for the Tigers with a three-set triumph at the No. 2 spot.

The men's success carried over to their next match at Yale (6-9, 0-2) in New Haven, Conn., as the Tigers defeated the Bulldogs 4-3.

After a win and a loss in doubles play, Princeton lost the doubles point with a defeat at No. 2 doubles. Just as they did against Brown, however, the Tigers roared their way back into the match during singles play. Freshman No. 5 Charlie Brosens, Carpeni, Saengsuwarn and Capkovic all topped their Yale opponents.

Capkovic, now ranked No. 125 nationally in men's singles, played a particularly exciting match. After losing the first set in a tiebreaker, Capkovic regained composure to defeat Yale's Brandon Wai 6-7, 6-3, 6-3.

The Princeton women stayed at home this weekend, hosting Brown and Yale at Jadwin Gym.

The Tigers started the weekend strong against the Bears (5-1, 0-3) on Friday afternoon. Princeton swept the doubles matches and only dropped one singles set on the way to a 7-0 shutout.

With the overall victory already secured, freshman No. 5 Sarah Huah was left on the court to fight it out with Brown's Emily Ellis. After winning the first set 6-4, Huah dropped the second 5-7 to take the match into a tiebreaking third-set pro set. Huah emerged victorious, defeating Ellis 14-12 to end the third set.

On Saturday, the Tigers faltered against Yale (7-8, 2-1), suffering a 5-2 loss.

Princeton's No. 2 doubles team of senior Darcy Robertson and Huah started strong with an impressive 8-0 shutout over the Bulldogs.

"[They were] playing some of the most solid doubles I've seen this year," head coach Kathy Sell said in an email. "They were aggressive, but controlled and focused throughout the match."

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Though at one point Princeton was up 4-1 at No. 1 doubles, the team did not close out the match, allowing Yale to capture the doubles point with identical 8-5 victories at the No. 1 and No. 3 spots.

In singles, the top two Tiger seeds triumphed, but the bottom four faltered. At No. 1, freshman Melissa Saiontz split sets with Brown's Janet Kim, has defeated Princeton opponents three times in the past two seasons. This time, Saiontz claimed victory for the Tigers, topping Kim 6-3 in the third set to take the match.

Junior No. 2 Ivana King continued her strong play in a straight-set win over Sarah Lederhandler. King holds a dominant 10-1 record for the season at No. 2 singles.

Despite some impressive performances, Sell sees room for this Princeton team to improve.

"We hurt ourselves in the match yesterday by not playing 'our game' on several courts during singles," Sell said. "Overall, I'd like to see our team finish the season playing aggressive tennis and by being really disciplined with the way we set up our points on each court. Every player has different strengths and so we would like to play in a way that sets up those strengths and puts us in a position to dictate what is happening on every court."

Both teams will continue Ivy League play this weekend against Dartmouth and Harvard — the men at home, the women on the road.