Princeton women's tennis pair plays in the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships

Last Tuesday, the women’s tennis team had a lone double pair compete in the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships hosted at the Riviera Tennis Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif. This doubles pair consisted of junior Nicole Kalhorn and freshman Stephanie Schrage. The pair played the No. 26 pair of Anna Rogers and Claudia Wiktorin, hailing from North Carolina State. The Princeton players fought hard in an 8-6 defeat in their first round of the qualifying doubles draw. The match was tied before the pair from NC State won three of the last four games. Kalhorn and Schrage have played as doubles partners once before, joining forces at the ITA Hall of Fame Grass Court Invitational earlier this season, where they went 1-1, winning one game 8-5 and losing another heartbreaker 8-7.

Princeton’s season so far has been one of tremendous success, especially when the Tigers played at home two weekends ago. Over the course of this weekend, Princeton went 10-1 in doubles and 15-5 in singles, a mightily impressive record against foes from Temple, Cornell, and Penn.

The early stretch of the season was marked by noteworthy play from freshman Nathalie Rodilosso. After coming in as a highly regarded, four-star recruit, she finished second in the B Flight at Penn’s Cissie Leary Invitational, her first tournament for Princeton. She followed this up with a strong performance at the Princeton Invitational, with a 2-1 record in her singles matches and a 2-0 record in her doubles matches.

Looking ahead, Princeton will be participating in the ITA Northeast Regional at the Hamlin and Hecht Tennis Centers at Penn next week; the tournament starts on Wednesday, Oct. 18 and will run through Monday, Oct. 23. Last year, the Tigers didn’t have any participants in the tournament from the women’s team, so having players make an appearance is a step up from previous seasons. Many of the Princeton players will be looking to show what they've got, especially considering how young the roster is. Out of the nine players on the Tigers’ roster, there are only four upperclassmen, two seniors and two juniors, playing with three sophomores and two freshmen.

Both freshmen have already made great impacts on the team. Along with Rodilosso, Schrage has demonstrated impressive play; her high point so far was beating the No. 64 player in the country, LSU’s Ryann Foster, at the ITA Hall of Fame Grass Court Invitational. Keep an eye on both next week at the ISA Northeast Regional and going forward as Princeton Tigers.