Men's, women's tennis head out west

The Princeton tennis teams travelled to San Diego for a final three matches before Ivy League play begins. Both teams posted 2-1 records against three highly ranked opponents. The unranked women’s team (6-7) began the trip with a 6-1 upset victory over 31stranked Long Beach State (8-1). The team then knocked off 67thranked San Diego State (6-8) by a score of 4-3 in the semifinals before suffering a 6-1 loss to 11thranked Oklahoma State (14-3) in the finals. On the men’s side, the team (15-4) defeated 39thranked University of Indiana (10-6) in the first round. In the semifinals, the host team, University of San Diego (11-4), ranked 30thin the nation, swept the Tigers 4-0. In the consolation match, the Tigers defeated Ivy League rival Harvard (12-5), ranked 22ndin the nation, 4-3.

The women began the week with a difficult match against Long Beach State, which was playing on its home courts. The Princeton women grabbed a 1-0 lead by claiming the doubles point with victories at the first and third spots despite a tiebreaker loss on court 2 from junior Amanda Muliawan and sophomore Dorothy Tang. All five singles matches that the Tigers won, with the exception of senior Lindsay Graff’s 6-3, 7-5 victory at first singles, came in three sets. Sophomore Alanna Wolff won 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 at third singles. Freshman Katrine Steffensen took her match 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 at fourth singles. Tang and senior Katie Goepel won their matches 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 and 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 respectively at fifth and sixth singles.

Princeton then swept the doubles matches against San Diego State to gain an early 1-0 lead. After victories by Graff and Tang at first and fifth singles and losses by Muliawan, Wolff and Goepel, the match was tied at 3-3. Steffensen lost the first set 7-5 in the tiebreaker before winning the second set 6-3. Steffensen was a point away from taking a 6-5 lead in the third set before her opponent, Jana Buth, suffered an injury and was forced to retire giving the Tigers the fourth point.

The Tigers faced Oklahoma State in the finals of the invitational. The strongest opponent they have played all year, the Cowboys quickly swept the doubles point. The Tigers used the same lineup they had used throughout the tournament. The Tigers lost five of their six singles matches, however. The lone victory came from Amanda Muliawan at second singles by a score of 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.

The men, likewise, began the tournament with a tricky match against the University of Indiana. The Tigers jumped on the Hoosiers early with victories at second and third doubles to secure the doubles point. Indiana, however, responded by taking the first singles point over sophomore Josh Yablon at fourth singles. This did not faze Princeton though, as the team took the next three singles match for the victory. Freshman Kial Kaiser and senior Zack McCourt won their matches at sixth and first singles respectively before sophomore Alex Day won the match for the Tigers 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 at third singles.

Next, the Tigers suffered a loss to San Diego 4-0. The teams split the first two doubles matches off of the court before losing at first doubles against the ITA 40thranked doubles tandem of San Diego. The Toreros won the singles matches at second, third and fifth singles, all in straight sets, to seal the defeat for the Tigers. According to GoPrincetonTigers, Princeton head coach, Billy Pate, stated after the match, “We really struggled to gain a foothold in any singles match early and just simply didn't execute. We're disappointed in that, but we'll bounce back and be ready for Harvard tomorrow."

Pate was correct as the Tigers hopped out to an early lead after once again winning the doubles point against the Crimson. After Harvard took three of the first five singles matches, it came down to freshman Luke Gamble at sixth singles. Gamble did not play like a freshman, however, as he kept his cool under pressure and led the Tigers to victory with an exciting 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 victory. This was the highest ranked team the Tigers’ beat on the year and the highest ranked team the team beaten under head coach Billy Pate.

The men now look ahead to a match against the 61st ranked Penn Quakers at home, while the women will travel to Penn to play the Quakers next weekend.