Injury-hit men swept as women split pair

The No. 69 men’s team (9-7 overall, 1-2 Ivy League) lost to Brown (10-13, 1-1) at home Friday by the close margin of 4-3. Princeton then proceeded lose another close one against Yale (7-9, 1-1) on Saturday, again by a 4-3 margin.

The women’s team (8-7, 1-2) fared better against the Bears (9-7, 0-3), winning 4-3, before suffering a 5-2 loss to Yale (7-8, 3-0) on Saturday.

The men’s team started out the match against Brown on the right foot by winning the doubles point. Things took a turn for the worse, however, as Princeton was forced to give up one of its singles matches because of a knee injury to junior No. 2 Alex Krueger-Wyman that forced him to retire after the first set. Krueger-Wyman possibly suffered a tear in his meniscus, a potentially season-ending injury.

Sophomore No. 5 Charlie Brosens was also nursing a hurt shoulder, and junior Alex Vuckovic is a week-to-week decision due to a lingering back injury. Though junior No. 1 Peter Capkovic was able to mount an impressive comeback to win his match in a 10-point third-set tiebreak, it was not enough to come back from Krueger-Wyman’s loss.

“Brown plays well from one to six,” Capkovic said. “We are playing pretty much everyone because we are four guys down.”

The men hoped to fare better on Saturday, but they did not start off as well as they had wanted to. After splitting two of the doubles matches, senior Mark Gober and freshman Alex Faust played a marathon at third doubles that finished long after the other two matches. Unfortunately for Princeton, the duo fell in a 7-4 tiebreak, so the Tigers lost the doubles point. The odds were stacked against them, especially without the injured Krueger-Wyman.

To compound its bad luck, Princeton suffered yet another loss as Capkovic was felled by back spasms deep in the first set, forcing him to retire after the first and putting the Tigers down 2-0 early. With both the No. 1 and No. 2 out with injuries, it was up to the rest of the team to step up. Faust and Gober were able to win their singles matches at No. 5 and No. 6, and sophomore No. 2 George Carpeni won a three-set thriller, 2-6, 7-5, 6-0. Unfortunately for the Tigers, the doubles point, coupled with Capkovic’s loss, were too much for Princeton to overcome.

“At the beginning of the season we talked about possibly winning the Ivy League title,” Capkovic said. “We probably won’t get it now, but our younger players will definitely be better for next year by playing.”

The women’s team won a thriller against Brown on Friday. After winning the doubles point 2-1, junior No. 6 Kelly Stewart won her match impressively, 6-1, 6-1, and the Tigers appeared to be in good shape. Four of the next five singles matchups went to three sets, however, forcing Princeton to play solidly for the rest of the nearly six-hour match. The match finally fell in the Tigers’ favor after impressive come-from-behind victories from senior No. 2 Ivana King and freshman No. 3 Taylor Marable. King even fought back from a second-set tiebreak on the way to her eventual win.

On Saturday, the Bulldogs proved to be a more difficult opponent. After losing a closely fought doubles point, the women needed a strong performance in singles play. King pulled out a three-set win, closing with a commanding 6-0 final set. Marable, who has been winning her singles matches with consistency, won in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1. The bottom three matches, however, all went to Yale, enough for the Bulldogs to clinch the match.

The men and women both face Dartmouth and Harvard next weekend, with the women hosting their opponents at Lenz Tennis Center while the men play on the road. Harvard and Dartmouth are both undefeated in the Ivy League on the women’s side, so it will be quite a challenge for the Tigers. The men have concerns of their own, as they must deal with their injuries this week to determine their lineup against these two teams.