Tennis: Pecotic falls in ITA final

It was a remarkably successful weekend for the men’s tennis team, as it sent players to the finals in both singles and doubles at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regional Tournament hosted by Yale. The Tigers had a strong start to the tournament on Friday, with victories coming from freshman Dan Richardson and senior Alex Faust in singles. Sophomores Matija Pecotic, Matt Siow and Matt Spindler received first-round byes. The doubles tandem of Pecotic and Siow as well as the pairing of freshman Augie Bloom and Spindler were also victorious in opening-round doubles play.

Princeton’s success continued on Saturday as Spindler, Pecotic and Siow each scored victories in the second and third rounds of the main singles draw. Spindler dominated his first opponent, Marcelo Mazzetto of Buffalo, defeating him in straight sets 6-1, 6-3. He then went on to beat Penn’s Hicham Laalej in a tight match 7-6, 3-6, 7-5.

Pecotic looked sharp from the get-go on Saturday, defeating Drexel’s Nikoloz Kurdadze 6-2, 6-1 in the second round before eliminating Erik Blumenkranz of Yale 6-1, 6-4.

Siow bypassed Stefan Bojic of St. John’s 7-6, 6-3 in the second round before playing a tough match with Army’s Asika Isoh. The match was back and forth and tested Siow’s resolve, but he was able to rally and defeat Isoh 6-3, 3-6, 7-6. It was a turning point in the tournament for Siow, as it helped bolster his confidence and focus.

“It was a real exciting match because both of us were on top of our games,” Siow said. “A couple of times my back was against the wall; he was serving for the match at 5-4 in the third set, but I came back. I was also down 5-1 in the third-set tiebreaker, but I wasn’t worried. The match definitely gave me a lot of confidence. I love being in clutch situations.”

Siow was also victorious in doubles play with Pecotic, defeating Bastian Borknessel and Ruben Devos of Binghamton 8-4 in the second round before eliminating Cornell’s Evan Bernstein and Evan McElwain 8-4 in the third round. The duo continued to play on Sunday, beating Penn’s Zach Katz and Ivan Turudic 8-6 to advance to the semifinals.

Another Princeton doubles pair advanced to the semifinals, as Bloom and Spindler defeated their opponents on Saturday and Sunday. Their path to the semifinals started off a bit rough, as Kendrick Au and Charlie Posner of Brown took them to a tiebreaker before falling 9-8. Their next match against Eugen Brazdil and Laalej of Penn was also a close one, as Bloom and Spindler won 9-7. Their quarterfinal matchup was not as dramatic: They defeated Cornell’s Feldman and Gauthier 8-4.

The quest for a singles title ended for Siow and Spindler on Sunday. Phil Law of Penn defeated Siow 6-3, 6-4, and Spindler fell to Binghamton’s Sven Vloedgraven in a tightly contested match 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. Pecotic ensured the Tigers would be represented in the singles quarterfinals, however, as he continued his dominant play and defeated No. 60 Akash Muppidi of Boston College in straight sets 6-2, 6-1.

Pecotic continued his stellar play by utterly dominating his opponents in the quarterfinals and semifinals. He defeated Binghamton’s Arnav Jain 6-3, 6-3 in straight sets before eliminating Marc Powers of Yale, the reigning Ivy League Player of the Year, in impressive fashion 6-0, 6-2 to advance to the finals.

Spindler and Bloom did not play on Monday because their semifinal opponents, Pearlman and Schultz of Harvard, defaulted, advancing Spindler and Bloom to the finals. Pecotic and Siow’s attempt to face their teammates in the finals ended on Monday with a close loss to Harvard’s Felton and Nguyen 8-6.

The Tigers’ success ended on Tuesday. Pecotic finally met his match in Vloedgraven, losing a close battle 6-2, 5-7, 6-0. Bloom and Spindler also fell, as Felton and Nguyen defeated them 8-3.

Despite falling in the final round, Pecotic said he was pleased with his performance.“I think I finally figured out what I have to do and how I can use all the weapons I have to maximize my game,” Pecotic said. “Last week I was sort of in a bad state of mind. Perhaps I wasn’t feeling very confident because I didn’t have the greatest start to the fall, but I guess [this weekend] I just believed in myself and the system I used. I just took it point by point. I didn’t think about any outcomes, I stayed and played in the present, and I guess that was the biggest difference. I didn’t change anything in my game; I just had a different mindset.”

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Spindler also gained valuable experience this weekend.

“I think I had a good weekend. I built a lot of confidence, and I felt that I proved that I can play with the best players in this region,” Spindler said. “I think that I didn’t even play as well as I could have, and it really gives me a lot of confidence going forward.”

The team looks to use its success at the tournament as inspiration as it heads into an offseason before spring play begins on Feb. 5 at Northwestern. “This motivates us,” Pecotic said. “We didn’t win the tournament. We were so close, but we didn’t win, and the success is an indicator of what we can do if we work hard and get fitter. I think fitness was a big role in this tournament. We had to play three matches a day for five days — at least I did — so we have to get very fit and stay motivated and focused. We’ve shown what we can do, but again, we shouldn’t think about any outcomes or rankings or media or interviews. We just have to play point by point and everything will take care of itself.”

“We have to keep our momentum going by working hard and keep being hungry,” Spindler said.

“Overall, I thought it was a really successful weekend,” Siow said. “As a team it was the best we’ve done at regionals since coach [Glenn] Michibata took over in 2000. It established we have one of the best and deepest teams not only in the Ivy League but the entire region. Between now and the spring we have to continue developing our game, and by the time Ivy League season rolls around I’m really confident that we can take the title.”