The No. 4 women (3-0, 1-0) did not lose a single match against Columbia and Franklin & Marshall and posted a convincing 7-2 win over Cornell on Sunday.
The highlight of the weekend’s competition for both teams was the Cornell matches. The men played first in front of a sizeable crowd in Jadwin Gymnasium on Sunday afternoon.
The Tigers jumped out to an early lead in the match by winning three of four even-numbered matches. Senior co-captain Dave Letourneau led the first shift with a win at the No. 2 position. After taking the first game, the three-time All-American and former Ivy League Rookie of the Year faltered in the second game.
“It was sort of a personal mental struggle for me today,” Letourneau said.
He recovered to win the next two games and take the match, but he still praised his opponent for putting up a good fight.
“He played well,” Letourneau said. “Cornell’s a really a good team.”
Letourneau said he was happy to see the Tigers take the lead in matches in the first half of the day.
“To be up 3-1 really puts some pressure on them going into the last shift,” he explained.
Cornell refused to cave to the pressure, though, and put up a strong challenge in the second shift. Junior Chris Callis lost in three games at the No. 3 spot. After losing the first two games, Callis refused to quit. He battled back from a few points down to make the third game close, losing 8-11.
Senior co-captain Peter Sopher said he was a little surprised to see Callis lose the match, but he gave credit to the Cornell player.
“His opponent had a very good Ivy scrimmages,” Sopher said, noting that the player did not lose a single match there.
Senior Nikhil Seth lost a close match in five games, as did junior David Pena.
Sophomore standout Todd Harrity gave Princeton fans a scare with a loss in the first game of the day’s marquee matchup. After losing the first game, Harrity cruised to victory and put on a display for the crowd packed in behind the court.
Junior Clay Blackiston likened Harrity’s play to Mohammed Ali’s rope-a-dope strategy in his famous fight against George Foreman. Harrity calmly returned his opponent’s shots as the points stretched on for minutes at a time. As soon as the Cornell player made a mistake, Harrity pounced with a crafty winner. After Harrity’s particularly impressive shots, the hushed crowd could not stay silent, and the whole room filled with “oohs” and “aahs.”
Following Harrity’s win, the women’s match began. The Tigers dominated the first shift, winning all four matches in three games each.
Senior co-captain Jackie Moss played a Cornell freshman at the No. 2 position.
“I just tried to keep up the pressure on her and wear her down,” Moss said. “I knew that experience would probably be a factor.”
After losing to her opponent at Ivy scrimmages a few weeks ago, senior co-captain Nikki Sequeira earned a dominating 3-0 victory at the No. 6 spot.
“Nikki had a good win,” Moss noted. “She got some redemption.”
The Tigers played three freshmen in the lineup, with Lexi Saunders at No. 4, Alex Sawin at No. 5 and Caroline Feeley at No. 7. Sawin won in the only five-game match of the day and Saunders won in three. Feeley lost in three games.
“Lexi Saunders, she played well,” Moss said. “She’s a good shot maker.”
Junior Katie Giovinazzo lost her match at the No. 3 position in four games. Moss noted that Giovinazzo was playing up a couple positions in the ladder while the Tigers are missing freshman Libby Eyre.
Overall, though, Moss said she was pleased with the result.
“This was our first real test, so we wanted to play well and play strong at home,” she said. “I think we are playing well right now but we can be stretched more later on.”
Though everyone expected that the Tigers would win, the women were still excited to have a more competitive match after their warmup matches against Columbia and Franklin & Marshall.
“People wanted to get on court and go for a good run and hit the ball hard and have someone they can play against,” Moss said.
Both teams now have a two-week break until they travel to play Brown, Williams and Middlebury the weekend of Dec. 4–5.
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