Tennis: Both teams win first of three

According to senior tennis captain Charlie Brosens, the Eastern College Athletic Conference is the place to make a statement.

“People are kind of looking at how the team competes, how hard they fight, and it’s kind of an indicator of how tough they are going to be in the spring,” Brosens said.

The men’s tennis team started off the weekend with the biggest win of its young season.

Despite missing a few members of its starting lineup due to injuries, Princeton (1-3), the sixth seed in the ECAC championship tournament, upset third-seeded No. 69 Yale (2-3) 4-3 in a match that came down to a third-set tiebreaker at No. 4 singles.

Freshman No. 4 Matt Spindler, playing on a bad ankle, won the clinching game in a tight 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(5). Spindler’s win could be a good omen for a youthful Princeton team that is still rounding into form.

The No. 3 doubles team of sophomore Coleman Crutchfield and freshman Michael Lin clinched the doubles point for the Tigers with a 9-8(3) win.

“Overall, I thought it was a really great afternoon,” Brosens said.

Brosens said that transitioning from playing in high school — where it’s more about individual matches — to playing in college — where losing a match could mean losing the tournament for the whole team — adds an extra element of pressure.

“To see how [the freshmen] handle the pressure I think will be a huge challenge for them,” Brosens said. “But I also think they’ve all played some very good tennis in the fall and handled it very well so far. So I’d say that’s a challenge but also something I’m very excited to see in the spring.”

The following afternoon, Princeton fell 6-1 in the semifinals to second-seeded No. 61 Harvard (3-2). After the Tigers won the doubles point, Harvard swept all six singles spots to win the team match.

Freshman Matt Siow and sophomore Yohei Shoji captured an 8-5 win at No. 1 doubles, and Spindler and junior Alex Faust wrapped up the point with a 9-8(3) tiebreak win at No. 3 doubles. Spindler was the only Princeton player to win a set in the singles matches against Harvard.

In the consolation match on Monday morning, Princeton fell 7-0 to Cornell (3-2). Shoji and Siow won the only individual for Princeton with a 9-7 win at No. 1 doubles.

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“To win [against Yale] ... and then to win the doubles point [against Harvard] and to come close in a few matches without some of the top players, it’s pretty encouraging,” Brosens said. “I thought overall that people really did step up.”

Brosens pointed to injuries as a problem in past seasons.

“One of the biggest challenges for us has been staying healthy,” he said. “In the past years, we’ve had an unfortunate amount of problems with injuries, so I hope that won’t be an issue.”

The women’s team came into the tournament seeded first and ranked No. 46. Princeton (4-3) cruised to an easy win in the quarterfinals, thumping eighth-seeded Columbia (2-1) 7-0 on Friday morning. The Tigers dropped only one set in the match and appeared poised for a big weekend.

That would not be the case, however, as Princeton suffered an unexpected 4-3 loss to fifth-seeded Dartmouth (7-1) in the semifinals. The Big Green picked up the crucial doubles point when Jesse Adler and Georgiana Smyser eked out a 9-8(7) win over senior Melissa Saiontz and junior Sarah Hoffman at No. 3 doubles.

Wins from sophomore No. 4 Rachel Saiontz, junior No. 5 Taylor Marable and junior No. 6 Blakely Ashley were not enough for the Tigers to earn a spot in the final.

Princeton dropped its consolation match 4-2 to No. 62 Harvard (5-2).

The Tigers won the double point, and Ashley wrapped up a perfect weekend at No. 6 singles, but Harvard won matches at No. 1, No. 2, No. 4 and No. 5 singles to end the weekend victorious.

Both teams return to the courts this weekend at Jadwin Gymnasium. The men will face St. Johns on Saturday afternoon, and the women will face No. 19 Vanderbilt on Saturday and Syracuse on Sunday.