Men's and women's tennis go 3 - 1 combined

The Princeton men’s tennis team achieved its highest ranking in the past 35 years last week, yet was given no break as the team was forced to take on yet another ranked opponent this past weekend. The No. 23 ranked Tigers (11-3) matched up against No. 39 Penn Stateon Saturdayand had a doubleheaderon Sundayagainst unranked opponents University at Buffalo (8-4) and Monmouth University (4-5). The men suffered a tough 4-3 loss to Penn State, but bounced backon Sundayand swept the two out-of-conference matches. The Princeton women’s team (4-6) won its only match this weekend against No. 60 University of Memphis (7-7).

The men’s team started the weekend by travelling to State College, Pa. for an out of conference match against the Nittany Lions. Princeton dropped the first doubles match at the third position, before fighting back to take the top two spots in doubles and ultimately gained the doubles point for an early 1-0 lead. Freshman duo Luke Gamble and Diego Vives won at second doubles 8-4, while sophomore Tom Colautti and senior Zack McCourt clinched the doubles point with an 8-6 victory at the first doubles spot. Princeton was then able to build on its lead by taking two of the first three singles matches to finish with wins from McCourt at one singles and sophomore Alex Day in the fourth position. They took their matches 6-3, 7-6 (3) and 6-4, 6-4, respectively. The fourth point proved to be unattainable for the Tigers, however. The men needed to win only one of the final three singles matches still on to win the entire match. However, sophomore Josh Yablon, freshman Kial Kaiser and senior Dan Richardson all lost their matches. Yablon lost in a third set that was stretched to a tiebreaker. Yablon led this tiebreaker 6-4, giving him double match point. Yablon, however, dropped the next four points to lose his match 6-7 (6), 6-4, 7-6 (6).

The Tigers had little time to think about the loss, however, as they travelled homeon Sundayfor a double header against the Buffalo and Monmouth. The Tigers allowed number one singles and doubles player McCourt to rest for both matches and shook up the entire roster for the matches. This gave the starters a little rest and gave the deep bench an opportunity to win some matches. The team took the doubles point to jump out to an early lead against Buffalo. Usually the starting number two singles player, Colautti was ready for the challenge as he filled in for McCourt. With Princeton and Buffalo tied at three matches apiece, Colautti won his match in thrilling fashion, 6-3, 6-7 (9), 6-2. Unwilling to be complacent, the Tigers then rolled to a decisive 5-0 victory against Monmouth later that afternoon. Day, Kaiser, Gamble and Vives all won their singles matches in straight sets after the doubles clinched the point earlier in the match.

The women had a less eventful weekend, as they travelled South for one match against out-of-conference opponent Memphis. Princeton took the doubles point with ease with decisive victories at the two and three doubles spots. Junior Amanda Muliawan and sophomore Dorothy Tang rolled in their match at second doubles 6-1. At third doubles, junior Emily Hahn and freshman Katrine Steffensen took their match 6-3. In singles, the women proved their depth by taking the matches at the four through six spots, while dropping the top three spots. Sophomore Caroline Joyce started it off by winning her match easily 6-0, 6-0. Tang took a little longer, but ultimately came away with a 7-5, 6-4 victory. Finally, Steffensen, after clinching the doubles point, clinched the match for the Tigers with a winning score of 3-6, 6-3, 6-0.

The women are done with matches until their spring break trip with the men to California. The men, however, have another doubleheader to look forward tonext Sundayagainst Army and Binghamton before heading West.