Women's tennis takes to the road against Brown, Yale

Princeton women’s tennis (9-7 overall, 1-0 Ivy League) has caught fire as of late with wins over the University of Houston, Rice University and Penn. The run earns them the No. 59 spot on ITA’s Division I rankings. This weekend the Tigers will put the streak to the test against Brown (12-6, 0-0) and Yale (6-8, 0-0).

The Tigers will head into Brown with the confidence of winning their first Ivy League game of the season. Though the win over Penn — the Tigers’ eighth consecutive win over the Quakers — was far from unexpected, Brown and Yale will be making their season Ivy League debuts this weekend and pose potential threats to rising Princeton.

Of the two, the Brown Bears pose a greater challenge for Princeton. At the team’s peak, the Bears concluded February on a six-game winning streak. In March, however, Brown posted a modest 3-3 record.

The trip to Rhode Island will give the Tigers the opportunity (and challenge) of improving on the road, where they have only been 3-3 on the road. On the other hand, Brown boasts an impressive 8-1 home record to challenge the Tigers.

The Brown squad features reigning Ivy League rookie of the year Alyza Benotto. The Los Angeles native recently received the No. 94 individual ranking from the ITA.

Despite Brown’s impressive home record, Princeton maintains a three-year streak of victories over the Bears. In fact, last year, the Tigers won by a score of 5-2 at home.

Turning to Yale, Princeton has already established its dominance over the Bulldogs this year with a 4-0 sweep at the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships in early February. In the championship’s consolation game, the squad of senior Amanda Muliawan, sophomore Katrine Steffensen, junior Sivan Krems and junior Caroline Joyce defeated Yale in four quick singles matches.

Similar to the Bears, Yale accumulated a streak of its own, spanning five games from mid-February to early March. The run included dominant wins over Fairfield University and Long Island University.

Against Princeton, Yale will prepare for a clash in the doubles matches. On the Bulldogs’ side, the duos of Madeleine Hamilton and Tina Jiang, Ree Ree Li and Carol Finke and Sherry Li and Caroline Lynch have all caught fire as of late. In particular Li and Lynch developed a nine-game doubles winning streak earlier in the season.

On the Princeton side, the Bulldogs will face a formidable challenge in Amanda Muliawan and Dorothy Tang, Emily Hahn and Katrine Steffensen and Caroline Joyce and Nicole Kalhorn.

Of note for the Bulldogs, Sherry Li has been undefeated in singles matches against Princeton her entire career.

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Following this weekend’s road trip, the Tigers will return for a three-game homestand. The lineup includes highly-anticipated matchups against rivals Dartmouth, Harvard and Columbia.