Both women’s and men’s tennis teams slipped in the Ivy Standings as each squad is now 2-3 in Ivy play, following this weekend’s matches against Brown and Yale.
The women’s team (8-6, 2-3 Ivy) split the weekend’s matches, soundly defeating Brown, 5-2, on Friday and falling to Yale, 6-1, this past Saturday.
On Friday against the Bears (5-11, 1-3), the Red turned in a solid all-around perfomance on its way to a convincing 5-2 home victory.
The doubles lineup opened the match on a strong note for Cornell, with the No. 3 team of junior Kasia Preneta and senior co-captain Liying Wang and the No. 1 team of senior co-captain Mollie Edinson and freshman Catherine Duboc each winning in resounding fashion, 8-4 and 8-2 respectively, to capture the doubles point.
Although the Red was unable to win at the top of its singles lineup, with losses at No. 1 and No. 2, the remaining singles players picked up the slack. Freshman Tammy John pulled out a tight three-setter at No. 3, and classmate Elizabeth Googe came back to win a nail-biter at No. 6, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 1-0 (8-6). Junior Nisha Suda improved her record to 7-2 at No. 4 by winning in straight sets.
“We played extremely well in the Brown match,” said head coach Laura Glitz. “Our energy and our attitude were great, and it really contributed to the strong performance.”
The Red did not fare as well the following day, losing 6-1 to a motivated Yale squad (7-8, 2-2), which was coming off a 4-3 loss to Columbia. Duboc picked up the only point for the Red, beating Yale’s Lilian Nguyen 6-1, 7-6 (7-1) at No. 5 singles. The rest of the singles players for Cornell proved to be overmatched, as they won only one combined set on their way to dropping all five of the remaining singles matches.
“Yale is a good team … [but] it was still a really positive weekend,” Glitz said. “It’s been a while since we won two conference matches in one season, and we still have chances to win next weekend.”
Glitz re-emphasized team attitude as a crucial element to the Red’s future success.
“To win more matches this season, we really need to display the enthusiasm and energy that we showed in the Brown match,” she said.
The No. 71 men’s team (11-8, 2-3), meanwhile, played well despite dropping both matches. In losing to No. 70 Brown (12-8, 3-1) by a score of 6-1, senior co-captain Brett McKeon was able to continue his recent winning streak, upsetting No. 66 Dan Hanegby, 6-4, 6-1. The No. 2 and No. 3 doubles teams lost two tight decisions, each squandering 7-6 leads on their way to losing 9-7.
“It’s definitely disappointing to lose,” said junior Dan Brous. “But this match was closer than it appears. The team is playing well, even though the results aren’t there.”
The next day against No. 73 Yale (10-7, 3-1), the score did indicate a close match, as the Red lost a 4-3 heartbreaker. The six singles matches were split 3-3, as Brous, junior Nick Brunner and sophomore Tongle Yu, all won in three tough sets to keep the Red in the match.
The netters faltered in the crucial doubles point, however, as the formidable No. 1 team of Brunner and junior Josh Raff – ranked No. 53 in the nation – pulled out an 8-6 victory, but the No. 2 and No. 3 teams were defeated.
“To be .500 in the Ivy League this year, we need to be more consistent,” Brous said. “Individual players have all played well at times, but we need to put it all together.”
Archived article by Danial Asmat
Sun Staff Writer