William & Mary routs Princeton

The men’s team (1-2) kicked off its spring season Jan. 28 against No. 53 Elon (1-1), playing at Duke’s indoor tennis facility. Princeton earned the doubles point to start the match well, with juniors Peter Capkovic and Alex Vuckovic edging their opponents 8-6 at No. 2 doubles, and junior Alex Krueger-Wyman and sophomore George Carpeni winning a barnburner at No.1 doubles.

The Phoenixes, however, came back to take four of six singles matches for a 4-3 victory, with the two lone Princeton wins coming from freshman No. 5 Ryan Kim and sophomore No. 6 Charlie Brosens, who both won super tiebreaks after splitting the first two sets. At No. 3, Krueger-Wyman forced a third set after dropping the first but fell 3-6 in the deciding frame.

The Tigers stayed in Durham for another day to take on No. 15 Duke (2-2), but this match was not as close, as the Blue Devils prevailed 5-2. Krueger-Wyman won a gritty three-set match, 6-7, 7-6, 7-5, at No. 3 singles while No. 6 Brosens earned his second win in a row with a straight-set victory.

Princeton made the short trip down Interstate 40 to Raleigh, where on Jan. 31 it earned its first win of the season, 5-2, over UNC-Wilmington (0-2). No. 1 doubles team Carpeni and Krueger-Wyman and No. 3 senior Mark Gober and freshman Alex Faust clinched the doubles point for the Tigers, while Kim and sophomore Ilya Trubov narrowly lost at No. 2 doubles.

In singles, Krueger-Wyman stepped in at No. 1 and decisively defeated his opponent, while Carpeni rallied from a set down to a 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 2. Kim won two tiebreaks at No. 4, while senior Jonathan Leslie earned a 6-2, 6-2 rout at No. 5.

While the men labored down south, the women’s team (3-1) opened its season with three straight home wins. The first was a 7-0 drubbing of NJIT (1-2) that featured dominating performances in both singles and doubles. The Tigers earned straight-set wins from sophomore No. 1 Melissa Saiontz, senior No. 2 Ivana King, sophomore No. 4 Blakely Ashley, freshman No. 5 Sarah Hoffman and junior No. 6 Kristen Scott, while sophomore No. 3 Sarah Huah rallied after dropping the first set to win a super tiebreak.

Hoffman had the distinction of a “double-bagel,” a 6-0, 6-0 victory. Princeton won the three doubles matches decisively, winning 24 games to its opponents’ six.

Later that day, the Tigers took on Temple (0-2), but with few signs of fatigue after smacking NJIT, Princeton cruised to a 5-2 win. Saiontz, King, Ashley and Hoffman each grabbed straight-set wins. The No. 1 and 2 doubles teams of King and Saiontz and Ashley and Huah bagged 8-2 wins to seal the doubles point.

The Tigers faced their first formidable test against St. John’s (0-1) on Feb. 1. The Red Storm grabbed the doubles point with wins at No. 2 and 3, but Princeton rallied to take four of the six singles matches. No. 5 Hoffman was first off the court with another double-bagel, while No. 1 Saiontz and No. 2 King soon followed. Junior Kelly Stewart’s 7-6 (4), 6-3 win at No. 6 clinched the team win, 4-3.

The break was not all wins for the Tigers, however. Princeton played No. 15 William & Mary (4-1) on Feb. 3 and ran into a freight train, falling 7-0 in Williamsburg, Va. Only King managed to win a set against the Tribe’s multitude of ranked players.

The women’s team returns to action this Sunday against Maryland in College Park, Md., while the men have two weeks to practice before they return to action in the ITA National Team Indoors in Seattle, Wash.