Princeton University Athletics
Players Mentioned
Peter Capkovic Named Ivy League Men's Tennis Player Of The Year
May 01, 2008 | Men's Tennis
Princeton junior Peter Capkovic, who led an injury-plagued Tiger team with five singles victories during the Ivy League season, was named the Ivy League men's tennis Player of the Year in a vote of the league's eight head coaches announced Thursday.
Capkovic, the Tigers' No. 1 singles player throughout the year, joined two others as unanimous first-team All-Ivy selections in 2008. The Princeton captain defeated both of those players in head-to-head competition, however, coming from a set down to defeat Penn's Jason Pinsky and winning a 17-15 tiebreak against Harvard's Ashwin Kumar.
"Peter has produced some great tennis and a terrific win-loss record in representing Princeton for the past two years," said Princeton head coach Glenn Michibata. "But what most people outside of the Princeton family don't see is what he brings to the program off the court. He is a true student-athlete and excels in the classroom as well. He's also a natural leader and one of the most humble guys we have on the team. I am very happy for him that he is being recognized this year."
The native of Bratislava, Slovakia becomes Princeton's third EITA/Ivy League men's tennis Player of the Year, joining Judson Williams in 2002 and Reed Cordish in 1996.
Capkovic himself fought through injury during the year. One of his two singles losses during the league season, against Yale, came when he was forced to retire due to a back injury after the first set.
For the spring, Capkovic won nine singles matches at No. 1 for a Tiger team that played eight matches against nationally-ranked opposition in 2008.
Princeton sophomore George Carpeni earned honorable mention All-Ivy honors after winning a team-high 12 singles matches for the Tigers this spring. He finished 6-2 at No. 3 singles and 6-5 at No. 2 singles. During the Ivy League season, he was 3-2 after moving up to the No. 2 spot, with one of the losses coming when retired due to injury and another a close 7-5, 6-4 defeat to nationally-ranked Chris Clayton of Harvard.
FIRST TEAM
Singles
*Ashwin Kumar, Harvard (Sr., Round Rock, Texas)
*Jason Pinsky, Penn (Sr., Potomac, Md.)
*Peter Capkovic, Princeton (Jr., Bratislava, Slovakia)
Chris Clayton, Harvard (Jr., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)
Mark Brodie, Dartmouth (Sr., Greensboro, N.C.)
Jonathan Wong, Columbia (Soph., Melville, N.Y.)
Doubles
*Harvard ? Ashwin Kumar (Sr., Round Rock, Texas) & Sasha Ermakov (Jr., Dallas, Texas)
Brown ? Saurabh Kohli (Sr., Colaba, Mumbai, India) & Basu Ratnam (Jr., Oyster Bay, N.Y.)
Dartmouth ? Mark Brodie (Sr., Greensboro, N.C.) & Jeff Schechtman (Sr., Highland Park, Ill.)
Player of the Year
Peter Capkovic, Princeton (Jr., Bratislava, Slovakia)
Rookie of the Year
Jeremy Feldman, Cornell (Fr., Armonk, N.Y.)
SECOND TEAM
Singles
Saurabh Kohli, Brown (Sr., Colaba, Mumbai, India)
Chris Lee, Brown (Jr., Sudbury, Mass.)
Mark Clemente, Columbia (Sr., Monroe Township, N.J.)
Michael Caldwell, Yale (Jr., Encinitas, Calif.)
Dan Nguyen, Harvard (Sr., Phoenix, Ariz.)
Bogdan Borta, Columbia (Jr., Bacau, Romania)
Doubles
Columbia ? Jonathan Wong (Soph., Melville, N.Y.) & Bogdan Borta (Jr., Bacau, Romania)
Brown ? Sam Garland (Jr., Bradenton, Fla.) & Noah Gardner (Jr., Cambridge, Mass.)
Yale ? Josh Lederman (Jr., Pacific Palisades, Calif.) & Calvin Bennett (Fr., Sandy, Utah)
HONORABLE MENTION
Singles
Joshua Goldstein, Cornell (Jr., St. Louis, Mo.)
George Carpeni, Princeton (Soph., Oxshott, England)
Jeff Dawson, Yale (Jr., St. Charles, Ill.)
Eric Riley, Penn (Sr., The Woodlands, Texas)
Aba Omodele-Lucien, Harvard (Fr., Berkeley, Calif.)
Doubles
Harvard ? Michael Hayes (Soph., Sydney, Australia) & Alexei Chijoff-Evans (Fr., Plano, Texas)
Cornell ? Josh Goldstein (Jr., St. Louis, Mo.) & Weston Nichols (Sr., Great Falls, Va.)
Harvard ? Dan Nguyen (Sr., Phoenix, Ariz.) & Aba Omodele-Lucien (Fr., Berkeley, Calif.)