Barely two weeks after Roger Federer was crowned with his 12th grand slam title, the courts of Flushing Meadows came alive once again on Monday as the third-seeded Tigers took on the top-seeded Penn State Nittany Lions in the final of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) tournament.
Princeton breezed into the finals having forfeited just five of 27 total matches in the first three rounds of the tournament, but Penn State, ranked first in the region, proved too much for the Tigers and ground its way to a 5-2 victory.
Competition started on Friday as the Tigers took on the No. 14-seeded University of Maryland Baltimore County. The doubles team of sophomore Ilya Trubov and freshman Ryan Kim rolled over their opponents 8-2, while at the No. 2 spot, the junior squad of Peter Capkovic and Alex Vuckovic were defeated 5-8. Capkovic, who is the Tigers' No. 1 singles player, struggled with a back injury and did not compete in singles play against Maryland. The decisive point came when junior Alex Krueger-Wyman teamed with sophomore George Carpeni to take out their opponents, 8-6, at the No. 1 spot.
Carpeni, filling in at the No. 1 spot, went on to play the Retrievers' top dog, Chris Meyer. After losing the first set in a tiebreak, Carpeni mounted an impressive comeback and surrendered only one game in the final two sets to win 6-7, 6-0, 6-1. Krueger-Wyman had little trouble against his opponent, winning by scores of 6-3 and 6-2, while at the No. 3 spot, Vuckovic won 6-0, 6-3.
Senior Jon Leslie stepped in at the No. 6 spot to win 7-5, 6-3, and sophomore No. 5 Charlie Brosens split sets with his opponent before winning a third set tiebreak 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 [10-7]. The only loss for the Tigers came at the No. 4 spot as freshman Ryan Kim lost a hard-fought match in a third-set tiebreak 6-7, 6-4, 1-0 [10-4], and the Tigers finished the day with a 6-1 victory.
Play continued Saturday as Princeton took on its toughest opponent of the weekend, the Yale Bulldogs. The Tigers were tested at the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles spots, with the No. 1 team of Krueger-Wyman and Carpeni eking out a 9-8 victory. At No. 2, the team of Capkovic and Vuckovic defeated their opponents 8-5. Kim and Trubov, meanwhile, lost by a razor thin margin at the number three spot, 8-9.
Capkovic was back in action against Yale and managed to come back from a 5-7 deficit to cruise to a victory, 5-7, 6-1, 6-2. No. 3 Krueger-Wyman and No. 4 Vuckovic managed to close out their matches in two sets, while at the six spot Brosens won in three. No. 2 singles player Carpeni (4-6, 6-4, 7-6 [4]) and No. 5 Kim (7-5, 3-6, 4-4 [5]) both lost in tight three-set matches, and the Tigers ended the day with a 5-2 victory.
On Sunday, despite the loss of Capkovic, who defaulted in his doubles match after complaining of back spasms, the Tigers steamrolled Brown. Just a day before, the Bears had upset No. 2-seeded Columbia.
The No. 1 doubles team of Krueger-Wyman and Carpeni started the day with an 8-5 victory but with the default of the No. 2 team of Capkovic and Vuckovic (1-2), and the loss of Kim and Trubov in the No. 3 spot, Princeton lost the doubles point. In singles play, No. 2 Krueger-Wyman, No. 3 Vuckovic, No. 4 Kim, No. 5 Brosens and No. 6 Leslie all won in straight sets. Only Carpeni, filling in at No. 1 once again, needed a third set tiebreak to take out his opponent. The Tigers won, 6-1.
Princeton's catapult into the finals came to a crashing end Monday when the team came up against the Penn State Nittany Lions. The Tigers started the day strong, with victories from the No. 1 doubles team of Krueger Wyman and Carpeni and No. 3 team of Kim and Trubov.
"It was a very close match, and they were a very tough team," Krueger-Wyman said.
At 6-6, with neither team surrendering its service games, Princeton found a way to break serve, and Krueger-Wyman consolidated the break by serving out to an 8-6 victory. The only singles victory for the Tigers came as Brosens finished out the weekend undefeated at the No. 5 spot. Princeton lost, 5-2.
Krueger-Wyman, who finished the weekend 7-1, was optimistic about his team's chances this season.
"[Our coach] has been successful in getting us to play as a team," Krueger-Wyman said. "Most guys are pretty confident and felt good up until the last match. It was difficult not having the number one player there, [but] I'm proud of my team."
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