Women's Tennis: NCAA Tournament opens with Panthers

Princeton went to the tournament in 1983 and 2000 exited both times in the first round. The Tigers, who finished league competititon this season with the best ranking among Ivy League schools, will get a boost from recent Ivy League success and one of the nation’s top recruiting classes last season. Still, Penn captured a tournament victory in 2006, and Harvard advanced to the Sweet 16 in the last decade.

The Tigers have two of the three doubles teams and five of the six singles players to be honored by the Ivy League. Freshman Hilary Bartlett and sophomore Taylor Marable are the No. 50-ranked tandem in the nation, and freshman Lauren McHale was ranked in singles for most of the season before recently falling out of the standings. Florida International has two ranked singles players and one ranked doubles team.

Princeton and Florida International have only one prior meeting, a 4-3 win for the Golden Panthers back on Jan. 28, 2007. That contest, however, holds little weight in terms of predicting Friday’s match, as only junior Melissa Saiontz and sophomore Blakely Ashley took part in that match.

In addition, little information can be gleaned by looking at the teamís common opponents, as both Princeton and Florida International earned victories over Harvard and Middle Tennessee State. In many ways, however, NCAA tournament predictions are pure guesswork — the regular season becomes a thing of the past today, and the Tigers look to find their stride at the most opportune of times. If they are successful on Friday, the Tigers will face on Saturday afternoon the winner of the match between Miami and Army.

Despite a strong finish to the Ivy League season, the Tigers aren’t content with the league crown. Instead, they look to use their momentum to ensure that their dream ride to the tournament does not prove to be short-lived.