While the men’s tennis team was busy putting together a solid finish to its fall season by capturing two titles at the Cornell Fall Invitational, the women’s squad was finishing its season with mixed results at the Big Green Invitational in Hanover, N.H.
Despite playing only its younger team members, the Cornell men were able to capture both the “C” singles title and “B” doubles title at their home tournament in Ithaca, N.Y. Freshman Kyle Doppelt defeated classmate Weston Nichols, 6-3, 6-3, in the “C” singles finals, while Nichols and sophomore Kevin Jay teamed up to capture the “B” doubles title with a 9-7 victory over the top-seeded tandem from Marist.
“This was a very good weekend for us. Weston and I really fought hard, and to pull off a close match is a very good accomplishment. Everyone competed well,” Jay said.
However, the big story from the Red was the breakout performance from freshman Peter Kung. Kung was up against the top competition in the “A” singles bracket, but managed to string together a series of notable victories before falling short in the finals. Hofstra’s top-seeded Nikola Djordevic took out Kung in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, to earn the victory.
“Peter played very well this weekend, and it just goes to show you that even though the top-4 or -5 guys weren’t playing this weekend, individually we played very well,” Jay said.
The Red also came up short in the “B” singles and “A” doubles finals. Freshman Marc Asch lost a tough three-set match to Colgate’s Mickey Gallagher in the “B” singles, while Asch and senior Ray Wu fell short against the top-seeded Marist team. All in all, the Red had six different teams in the finals, and came away with two titles. The Red started off the three-day tournament, which ran from Friday to Sunday, with a bang, going undefeated on the first day of play. The hot play continued into the weekend, and according to Jay, the team feels good about ending its season on a positive note.
“We have had some encouraging results, both as a team and as individuals. [Head coach Barry] Schoonmaker seemed pretty happy with how we did this weekend and on the season,” Jay said. In order to maintain both their tennis skills and overall fitness during the off-season, the men will have captain’s practices twice a week and work-out sessions for the duration of the winter.
As for the women, they achieved mixed results at the Big Green Invitational, hosted by Dartmouth. The Red opened up by winning 5-of-6 singles matches on the first day. The hot hand did not extend to doubles, where all three doubles pairs lost their opening matches, but managed to come back and win their first matches of the consolation draw.
However, the second day proved to be devastating for the Red, with only senior Mollie Edinson earning a victory in the “A” flight. The sixth-seeded Edinson took out Inge Legrange of Marist 6-4, 6-2, but later fell to No. 2 seed Andrea Novaceanu of Buffalo. Junior Nisha Suda and freshman Elizabeth Googe both lost their matches. In the “B” flight, a pair of Cornell freshmen, Shayna Miller and fourth-seeded Catherine Duboc, both fell in straight sets.
On the bright side, senior Liying Wang won both of her “B” flight consolation matches. Wang was the Red’s only singles player remaining on the last day of the tournament, when she defeated Danielle Murray of Dartmouth in the final round to claim the “B” flight title.
Archived article by Jeremy Drucker
Sun Contributor