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Sports recap: Weintraub '25 wins at NCAA fencing championships, tennis teams dominate, rowing racks up wins

mens tennis.jpeg
The men’s tennis team bested St. John’s 6–1 in a dominant win.
Courtesy of Beverly Schaefer/GoPrincetonTigers.com

Men’s and Women’s at Fencing NCAA Championships

Princeton fencing finished fourth out of 27 teams at NCAA championships this past weekend, leaving the competition with seven All-Americans and one champion. 

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First-year Maia Weintraub won the women’s foil championship, Princeton’s first since 2000. She was one of five women on the team to earn All-American honors, including senior sabrist Maia Chamberlain, senior sabrist Galen Cadley, first-year épéeist Jessica Lin, and junior épéeist Lola Constantino. 

For the men, both junior foil fencer Mohamed Hamza and first-year épée Nicholas Lawson earned All-American honors. Hamza fell 15–14 in a nail-biter semifinal to Columbia’s Ashton Daniel, while Lawson defeated Penn’s Emon Daroian 15–11 in the semis, but fell to Ohio State’s Gabriel Feinberg 15–11 in the final. 

Women’s Lacrosse at Loyola (MD)

No. 10 women’s lacrosse (6–1, 1–0 Ivy) suffered their first loss of the season 16–15 at No. 7 Loyola Maryland (8­–0, 2–0 Patriot). Senior attack Kyla Sears led the Tigers with four goals, while first-year midfielder Sophie Whiteway scored three. 

Sophomore midfielder Kari Buonanno opened the scoring for the Tigers, but after Loyola quickly responded with four goals in under three minutes, Princton trailed for the remainder of the game. A late goal from first-year midfielder Nina Montes cut the Greyhounds’ lead to one with just over 90 seconds remaining, but Loyola held on from there. 

You can read contributor Eric Fenno’s full game recap here.

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Princeton is back in action tomorrow at 7 p.m. when they host No. 5 Stony Brook. 

Men’s Lacrosse

No. 2 men’s lacrosse (6–2, 1–1 Ivy) suffered its second defeat of the season, dropping a close one 14–12 at No. 11 Yale (4–2, 1–1 Ivy) over the weekend. Junior midfielder Alex Vardaro led the Tigers with four goals, while junior attack Alex Slusher, junior midfielder Jake Stevens, first-year attack Coulter Mackesy, and senior attack Christopher Brown each scored twice. 

After jumping out to a two-goal lead early, Princeton found themselves down three at halftime. The Tigers erased the deficit, even briefly taking the lead 10–9 following a goal from Stevens with 5:29 to go in the third quarter. 

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After two quick Bulldog goals at the end of the third quarter, Vardaro scored his fourth goal to tie the game with 11:06 to go. Yale scored with less than two minutes to go and never looked back, holding on for the two-goal win. 

You can read Le’Naya Wilkerson’s full game recap here.

The Tigers will look to bounce back on Saturday as they travel to Providence to take on Brown. 

Softball vs. Villanova and at Harvard

Women’s softball won three out of four games this week, improving to 11–10 (5–1 Ivy). The Tigers started the run with a 6–5 home win against Villanova (10–17, 0–2 Big East) on Wednesday. After Princeton jumped out to a 6–0 lead, the Wildcats answered with five straight runs to cut the lead to one in the sixth inning. The Tigers held on in the final frame for the win. Sophomore pitcher Molly Chambers starred for the Tigers, tossing 5.1 innings with only one earned run. 

Against Harvard (9–13, 3–3 Ivy), the Tigers played a three-game set. The Crimson won the first 2–1, with both runs coming in the first inning. Sophomore shortstop Grace Jackson drove home the lone run for the Tigers.

Princeton followed up the loss with back-to-back wins to close out the weekend. In game two, the Tigers won 5–4, with junior pitcher Ali Blanchard pitching a complete game as the Tigers never trailed. In game three, junior right fielder Adrienne Chang opened the scoring with a first inning, two-run home run as the Tigers went on to win 5–1. Junior pitcher Alexis Laudenslager threw a complete game, with the only run scored being unearned.

The Tigers host Dartmouth next weekend for their second Ivy League series of the year. 

Baseball vs. Yale

Men’s baseball (2–16, 0–3 Ivy) got swept over the weekend by Yale (11–6, 3–0 Ivy) in their three-game series. Yale took the first game 3–2, scoring all three runs in the sixth inning. Princeton scored two runs in the ninth to make it interesting, but the comeback ultimately fell short.

In game two, the Bulldogs won 14–8. Sophomore right fielder Matthew Scannell went 3-for-4 with a home run, three RBIs, and a run scored to lead Princeton. 

In game three, Yale again won big 13–6. Scannell again went 3-for-4, while six different Tigers registered RBIs.

Princeton travels to Columbia next weekend for a three-game series as they look to bounce back. 

Men’s Volleyball

Men’s volleyball (8–12, 7–6 Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association) won two big conference matches this week against St. Francis Brooklyn (8–6, 3–6 EIVA) and the New Jersey Institute of Technology (11–8, 6–4 EIVA). 

Against St. Francis, the Tigers swept the match 3–0. Sophomore outside hitter James Hartley led the team with 12 kills and eight digs. Against NJIT, Princeton dominated again, winning the match 3–1. Hartley again led the team in kills with 21, while sophomore outside hitter Ben Harrington led the team with six digs, and was second to Hartley with 12 kills. 

The Tigers head to Teaneck, N.J. next Saturday for an in-state matchup with Fairleigh Dickinson. 

Women’s Tennis vs. Old Dominion

Women’s tennis (5–9, 1–0 Ivy) took down Old Dominion 4–3 on Friday afternoon, ending the Monarchs’ six-match winning streak. 

The Tigers took the doubles point 2–1, as sophomore Neha Velaga and first-year Skyler Grishuk won 6–2 in the second spot, while senior Nathalie Rodilosso and junior Daria Frayman dominated 6–0 in the third spot. 

Up a point, the Tigers took care of business in the singles matches as they split with Old Dominion. First-year Victoria Hu, senior Brianna Shvets, and sophomore Zoe Howard won in the three-through-five spots to lock up the win for Princeton. 

The team is back in action next Saturday when they host Ivy League rival Penn. 

Women’s Open and Lightweight Rowing

On Saturday, women’s open rowing opened the season with a sweep of the eights races to win on Lake Carnegie. The varsity eight topped Brown by three seconds and Ohio State by 6.3 seconds, with the win over Brown keeping the Class of 1987 Trophy in Princeton’s hands. 

The lightweight team swept Georgetown Saturday on Potomac River to open their season. The win was highlighted by the varsity eight, which dominated with a 13.1 second victory over the Hoyas. 

Men’s Heavyweight and Lightweight Rowing 

Princeton men’s heavyweight rowing earned a win on Lake Carnegie Saturday in their first home race since 2019. The varsity eight topped Drexel by 4.5 seconds, with Temple and Georgetown coming in third and fourth, respectively. 

The lightweight team traveled to Annapolis to face off against Navy and Georgetown. The Tigers dropped all three races against Navy, including a 1.4-second nail-biter in the varsity eight race. The team rebounded against Georgetown, winning all three races, highlighted by a 0.4 second win in the varsity eight race.

Men’s tennis vs. St. John’s

Men’s tennis (14–5, 1–0 Ivy) dominated St. John’s 6–1 on Saturday to continue their strong season. 

The team won the doubles point 2–1, as senior Ryan Seggerman and first-year Filippos Astreinidis won 6–4 in the second spot, and seniors Karl Poling and Bill Duo scratched out a 7–5 win in the third spot. 

As for the singles matches, Princeton dominated, winning the one-through-five spots. Seggerman, junior William Peters, and junior Thomas Bosancic won in straight sets, while Poling and senior Justin Barki won in three sets. 

Princeton takes on Penn at home next Saturday for a big Ivy League showdown. 

Ben Burns is an Associate Sports Editor at the ‘Prince’ who typically covers basketball, hockey, and soccer. He can be reached at bwburns@princeton.edu or on Twitter @bwburns5_.