Women's Tennis: Team tops Terrapins for third-straight win

“The team continues to improve with each match,” freshman Hilary Bartlett said. “The matches this weekend weren’t necessarily against very tough opponents, although anyone can be tough on any given day, but there were further opportunities for us to come together as a team. I think we did that very well this weekend.”

St. John’s (1-6 overall) wasn’t much of a test for Princeton in any match Friday afternoon. All three of Princeton’s doubles tandems soundly posted 8-1 wins over their Red Storm counterparts, while Tigers won five of the six singles matches in straight sets. Freshman Lauren McHale and sophomore Blakely Ashley both won in especially convincing fashions, ceding only three games between them to their opponents.

Junior Sarah Huah faced St. John’s Gabija Gasiunaite in what was the tightest singles match between the two teams. Gasiunaite edged out Huah in a 15-13 tiebreak in the first set, but Huah battled back to win the next two, completing the sweep for the Tigers.

After a few hours of rest, Princeton returned in the afternoon, still riding high on its momentum from the morning. This time the victim was NJIT (7-2 overall), as the Tigers picked up right where they left off, earning victories in all three doubles matches to earn the doubles point. Wins from Ashley, sophomore Taylor Marable and sophomore Sarah Hoffman were enough to clinch the team victory for the Tigers. Freshman Rachel Saiontz, senior Kelly Stewart and sophomore Rebecca Parks then finished off the sweep, winning all of their matches in straight sets.

Princeton, looking to earn its third win in just over 24 hours, returned to the indoor courts in Jadwin Gymnasium early the next morning to face Maryland. The Tigers continued their dominance by going 5-1 in singles, with the sole loss coming at the No. 2 spot when Bartlett fell to the Terrapins’ Eleanor Peters. Bartlett, however, combined with Marable to win their doubles match 8-4, and that victory, coupled with the success of the McHale-Saiontz tandem, allowed Princeton to claim the doubles point.

The Tigers have experienced their fair share of ups and downs through the winter season, but they will look to build on this weekend’s strong performance with Ivy League play looming only a month in the distance. After beginning the season ranked 61st in the nation, Princeton hovered around that mark until it defeated No. 50 Iowa, moving itself up to No. 53 in the rankings. After defeating Columbia and Brown in the first two rounds of the ECAC Championship, the Tigers succumbed to Yale and slipped three spots to No. 56, where they currently stand. After this weekend’s solid wins, Princeton will look to gain back some ground in the national polls.

Looking to the immediate future, the Tigers will have to rely on the confidence they gained from their victories this weekend.

“As a team, we’re continuing to work on building up our confidence and keeping the energy on the court very positive,” Bartlett said. “We want to get to the point where our level of confidence and belief matches the potential that we have as a team to accomplish very big things this season.”