Tennis: Men, women take down Southern opponents

The victories extended the women’s winning streak to five matches and boosted the men above .500 for the first time this season.

Women’s team

The tigers (10-4 overall) opened up the weekend’s tour of Virginia by defeating a strong Virginia Commonwealth (10-5) team 4-2 on Saturday. Despite losing the doubles point after losses from the Tigers’ second and third teams, Princeton captured four of the five singles matches to secure the victory. Freshman Rachel Saionitz’ match did not finish her match.

On Sunday, Princeton faced an equally strong William & Mary (4-4) team, earning an exciting 5-2 victory. The Tigers gained early momentum when the No. 1 doubles team of freshman Hilary Bartlett and sophomore Taylor Marable captured a decisive doubles victory after winning a tiebreaker. Princeton also had a strong showing at the top and bottom of its singles rotation, with the sole losses coming at the No. 3 and No. 4 spots.

After returning home, the Tigers will face a 16-day layoff before their next match. While some might consider the extended break to be detrimental to the team’s recent momentum, head coach Kathy Sell said she believes her players will relish the opportunity for some time off.

“The break between matches has been anticipated and, at this point, is needed,” Sell said. “We had scheduled a tough month to get us match-tough as quickly as possible and to provide opportunities for all 11 players to compete.”

Despite the recent success, Coach Sell said the team has much room for improvement. Sell explained that refining doubles play and building confidence through cultivating a positive attitude are her priorities in the coming weeks.

“We still have a lot to learn about playing doubles. Our No. 1 team of Hilary Bartlett [and] Taylor Marable have had a successful run so far, and I think even they understand there is a lot still to learn about playing top doubles,” Sell said. “As a team, we will ‘practice’ bringing a positive attitude to the courts every day because we know that is contagious and so helpful in a match setting.”

Men’s Team

The tigers (4-3) made use of home-court advantage and superb play at the top of the lineup, dispatching St. John’s (4-4) 5-2 on Saturday at Jadwin Gymnasium. In addition to picking up wins in the top three singles spots, senior Peter Capkovic, junior George Carpeni and senior Alex Vuckovic also picked up doubles wins to ensure that Princeton claimed the doubles point.

The strong play of the Tigers’ top three players is crucial in building momentum and confidence for the rest of the team, head coach Glenn Michibata said.

“Our top three singles players are upperclassmen, so the rest of the team naturally looks to them for leadership,” Michibata noted. “If our top players are playing well, it gives the rest of the team an extra boost of confidence.”

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“Our team has really been able to build off each other’s energy during match play, something that I would say is true all the way down the lineup,” Vuckovic said. “I think we take a lot of comfort in the fact that we know all the guys competing are going to fight their absolute hardest to win their matches.”

In the Tigers’ Sunday match against Charleston (2-4), a strong all-around team effort earned a 5-2 victory for Princeton. The clinching match came at the No.5 spot, where sophomore Ryan Kim came up with a victory in a long and exciting match.

All in all, Princeton players said that the weekend served as an important confidence booster in taking them above the .500 plateau for the first time this season. The Tigers are certainly heading in the right direction, and, with continued hard work, they should be successful throughout Ivy League play.

“If we keep working hard, and if we’re able to avoid injuries, we will be in a great shape for the Ivy season,” Capkovic said.

Carpeni expressed a similar sentiment.

“Between now and the Ivy season, we just want to build on what we’ve been doing,” he said. “The only things we want to worry about are the things we can control, like our diligence on the practice court, our effort and focus during practice and during matches. If we work towards optimizing what we can control, we will give ourselves the best chance to succeed during the Ivy season.”