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Tigers Win Thriller Over Harvard in Men's Tennis, 4-3
April 14, 2007 | Men's Tennis
It was about the most suspense you can get in a college tennis match. But Princeton freshman George Carpeni quickly ended the suspense to give the Tiger men's tennis team a big win over Harvard Saturday afternoon.
With the final two singles matches in third-set tiebreaks and Princeton clinging to a 3-2 overall lead, Carpeni jumped out to a 6-0 lead in his tiebreak against Dan Nguyen at No. 3 singles and closed out the match to give the No. 73 Tigers a 4-3 win over the No. 74 Crimson at the Lenz Tennis Center.
The win was Princeton's first over Harvard in a dual match since the 1997 season. The Tigers (11-5, 4-1), who won their fourth straight match, stayed a game behind league leader Penn in the Ivy standings with matches at home against Columbia and on the road at Cornell next weekend.
"It's a big win for us since it had been a while since we had beaten Harvard," said Tiger head coach Glenn Michibata. "George showed a lot of heart in coming back to win his match, and we're still in the race heading into the final weekend."
Carpeni lost the first set 6-4 to Nguyen but won the final two sets in tiebreaks. The final tiebreak went to Carpeni 7-2 after taking the 6-0 lead.
Princeton put itself on the verge of a win when Charlie Brosens knocked off Shantanu Dhaka in straight sets at No. 6 o give the Tigers a 3-1 lead, but the final three matches were still on court. Harvard (7-9, 2-2) pulled within 3-2 when Sasha Ermakov defeated Princeton's Alex Vuckovic 6-3 in the third set, and both Carpeni's match and the No. 1 match between Princeton's Peter Capkovic and Harvard's Chris Clayton would go to third-set tiebreaks almost simultaneously.
Carpeni clinched the team match for Princeton while Capkovic and Clayton were still playing, and Harvard's Clayton would take the tiebreak by a 7-4 score to win the match.
Princeton's most impressive singles win came earlier in the day when Sratha Saengsuwarn improved to 10-3 at No. 2 this spring with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Ashwin Kumar.
Another big Princeton win was the doubles point, which the Tigers clinched with identical 8-6 wins at Nos. 2 and 3.
Princeton 4, Harvard 3
April 14, 2007
Lenz Tennis Center
Doubles (Princeton wins doubles point)
1. Ted Mabrey/George Carpeni, P, def. Ashwin Kumar/Sasha Ermakov, H, 8-7 (7)
2. Peter Capkovic/Alex Vuckovic, P, def. Scott Denenberg/Gideon Valkin, H, 8-6
3. Alex Krueger-Wyman/Sratha Saengswuarn, P, def. Dan Nguyen/Michael Hayes, H, 8-6
Singles
1. Chris Clayton, H, def. Capkovic, P, 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (7-4)
2. Saengsuwarn, P, def. Kumar, H, 6-1, 6-3
3. Carpeni, P, def. Nguyen, H, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6 (7-2)
4. Valkin, H, def. Krueger-Wyman, P, 6-1, 7-6
5. Ermakov, H, def. Vuckovic, P, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3
6. Charlie Brosens, P, def. Shantanu Dhaka, H, 6-3, 6-3