The Princeton women’s tennis team (8–11 overall, 1–4 Ivy League) experienced a weekend of highs and lows in their penultimate Ivy League matchups. The Tigers captured a thrilling 4–3 home victory over Cornell (11–7, 1–4) on Friday, marking their first conference win of the season. However, their momentum faltered on Sunday with a 4–2 loss to Columbia (12–8, 3–2), ensuring Princeton’s first losing Ivy League record since 2003.
“[They were] two very electric matches,” said head coach Elizabeth Begley. “We’re continuing to see improvement, especially in our freshmen.”
The season has been a challenge for Begley in her first year at the helm. Senior captain Leena Benneto has missed the entire Ivy League campaign due to injury. Despite winning the last five Ivy titles, the Tigers have struggled on the road, losing all four away matches in conference play.
Sophomore Alice Ferlito noted the difficulties of transitioning with a young team. “I feel like I was expecting to get more wins, but this year we have a very young team,” she said. “It felt very good to get a win this weekend, especially being home.”
Before Friday’s match against Cornell, Princeton had not played at home since March 1. The return to the friendly courts of the Lenz Tennis Center helped spark new energy for the team.
“It felt very nice to play at home for the first time this Ivy season,” Ferlito added. “We are used to the courts here, and they feel good.”
Although the Tigers lost the doubles point—winning only line one through junior Eva Elbaz and first-year Maren Urata—they bounced back in singles.
Urata dominated Cornell’s Jenny Wong on line five, winning 6–4, 6–1. Elbaz followed with a tight 7–6, 6–2 victory over Victoria Zhao at line three. With the match tied 2–2, sophomore Tsehay Driscoll delivered another key win at line six, winning 7–5, 6–3.
“I was just really focused on bringing the energy and trying to be the loudest teammate for my team,” Driscoll said.
After Cornell leveled the match again by winning line two, the deciding point came down to Ferlito in line one. She edged Michelle Ryndin 6–5 in the first set but lost the second 7–5. In a tense third set, Ferlito battled through and clinched the match 7–5, giving Princeton the overall win.
“She was able to battle and pull it out, which is just like one of those storybook matches,” Begley said. “We were that close to losing it, and then we turned it around.”
The Tigers hoped to carry their momentum into Sunday’s matchup at No. 69 Columbia. They impressed early, capturing the doubles point thanks to wins from Pearlie Zhang and Bella Chhiv on line two, and Driscoll and Ferlito on line three.
“We were just so excited,” Driscoll said. “That was a key change in momentum for us.”
Despite that early success, the Tigers only managed one singles win—courtesy of Chhiv on line two—as Columbia claimed victory on four courts to win 4–2 before line four concluded.
Now, Princeton looks ahead to its final two Ivy League matches, both at home against Yale and Brown.
“We lost to Yale in the ECAC tournament,” Begley said. “We’re excited to play them again—it was a close match and we want a bit of revenge.”
“We’ve been training hard and focusing on limiting errors,” Driscoll added.
Related topics: