Princeton University Athletics
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Women's Tennis Earns Back-to-Back Ivy Titles with Columbia Sweep
April 18, 2010 | Women's Tennis
The Tigers completed the program's first clean sweep of the Ivy League since 2000 by defeating Columbia 7-0 Sunday afternoon at the Lenz Tennis Center. It is just the second time, after 2000, since the Ivy champion began being determined by a round-robin in 1983 that the Tigers have completed the circuit without a loss.
"It's a real testament to just how hard working they are and what a great group of girls," Princeton's first-year head coach Megan Bradley said. "I'm just happy to be a part of it."
The back-to-back Ivy League titles are Princeton's first since 1993 and 1994 and ninth since the Ivy women's tennis title came into being in 1980. The outright title, following last year's crown that was shared with Harvard, is Princeton's fifth overall and first since 2000.
Princeton clinched the NCAA automatic berth with Friday's win over Cornell but tossed out any need for tiebreakers with Sunday's win. The Tigers will appear in their fourth NCAA team tournament and in back-to-back seasons for the first time after appearances in 1983, 2000 and 2009. Princeton will be in the hunt for its first NCAA victory after coming up just short last season to Florida International 4-3 in Miami.
Princeton also claimed a program record of great significance with the weekend sweep of the New York schools, claiming 20 dual-match victories for the first time in program history. The previous record belonged to many of the same Tigers after Princeton won 18 matches a year ago.
After receiving the Cheryl and Richard Gouse Ivy League championship trophy, the Tigers went up campus and took a run through the Woodrow Wilson School fountain, continuing a tradition that Bradley had learned of to celebrate undefeated Ivy seasons.
Melissa Saiontz, the team's only senior, joined the team in the fountain on a chilly April afternoon.
"We were all kind of prepared but we didn't want to talk about it," Saiontz said of the tradition. "We still had one match and even though we would have won the Ivies either way, we really wanted to approach this match as if it were something we really needed to take home and win."
All six Tigers who took the court Sunday were winners in both singles and doubles, with Hilary Bartlett, Melissa Saiontz, Rachel Saiontz, Taylor Marable, Blakely Ashley and Monica Chow allowing no more than two games in any doubles match and three in any singles match.
(32) Princeton (20-5, 7-0 Ivy) 7, Columbia (10-13, 1-6) 0
Doubles
1. (26) Bartlett/Marable (P) def. Donovan/Makarova (C), 8-2
2. M. Saiontz/R. Saiontz (P) def. Constable/Kovacevic (C), 8-1
3. Ashley/Chow (P) def. Christenson/Matache (C), 8-1
Singles
1. (63) Hilary Bartlett (P) def. Chelsea Davis (C), 6-2, 6-3
2. Melissa Saiontz (P) def. Natasha Makarova (C), 6-1, 6-0
3. Rachel Saiontz (P) def. Eliza Matache (C), 6-0, 6-1
4. Taylor Marable (P) def. Katarina Kovacevic (C), 6-1, 6-2
5. Blakely Ashley (P) def. Diana Shapoval (C), 6-0, 6-0
6. Monica Chow (P) def. Natalia Christenson (C), 6-2, 6-0