Tennis: Princeton opens spring with tough opponents, mixed results

The women’s team, which entered the month ranked No. 51 nationally, opened with a 7-0 sweep of Temple. Five of the six singles matches were secured in two sets as the Tigers dominated the Owls on their home courts inside Jadwin Gymnasium.

“We have a very strong team this year and our lineup is deep,” said sophomore Katherine Flanigan, who defeated her singles opponent 6-1, 6-3. “I was thrilled to see how well our freshmen handled their first match of the season during our sweep of Temple at home.” Rookies Katie Goepel and Lindsay Graff swept their singles matches and were part of two doubles victories.

After opening their spring season with a victory, Princeton went off to face No. 13 Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets won all three doubles matches in addition to four of the six singles matches. Graff and senior Rachel Saiontz were the two Tigers to record victories, winning their matches in a combined five sets.

“Georgia Tech was the tougher of the two matches,” Flanigan said. She added that she is confident that the team will “identify the areas that we need to work on in order to close out tight matches against good teams like Georgia Tech.”

The No. 63 men’s team had a tougher start to its season, quickly losing 4-0 to No. 14 Mississippi State at the ITA Kickoff Classic hosted by Texas A&M. The Tigers were swept in the two doubles and three singles matches that were played to completion. Sophomore Augie Bloom called the Bulldogs the toughest opponent Princeton faced in its opening week.

Facing Purdue the following day, Bloom and his doubles partner, junior Matija Pecotic, secured a tight 9-7 match, but it wasn’t enough to catapult the Tigers to victory. Though 46th-ranked Pecotic and freshman Zack McCourt added singles victories, the No. 72 Boilermakers took the other two doubles matches and three singles competitions for a 4-2 victory.

Princeton got off to a good start at Penn State, winning the doubles point, and Pecotic and McCourt again delivered singles victories. But the other results went against the Tigers, who lost two matches in third-set tiebreakers for a nail-biting defeat. Though the Tigers came away with a 4-3 loss, Bloom said, “We’re a stronger team for it, and I’m not worried about the rest of the season.”

To finish off the week, the Tigers returned home to play against Cleveland State. Princeton swept the doubles matches and took five of the six singles to clinch their first victory of the spring. Pecotic won his singles match in an impressive 6-0, 6-0 style.

“We’re focused on taking the whole pie and leaving nothing for anyone else,” Bloom said.

Both teams will get another taste of nationally-ranked competition this weekend. The women will host No. 40 Maryland and Rutgers, while the men visit No. 44 University of North Carolina, Wilmington and Elon.