Princeton University Athletics
Thursday, March 17
San Diego, Calif. (San Diego State)
1:00 PM
Princeton University
4
vs
2
Memphis
Players Mentioned
Men's Tennis Topples 26th-Ranked Memphis in San Diego Opener
March 17, 2016 | Men's Tennis
Make it four wins in a row over ITA-ranked opponents for the No. 36 Princeton men's tennis team after the Tigers beat No. 26 Memphis 4-2 Thursday afternoon in San Diego.
Getting a fifth straight win over a ranked foe, judging by the ITA rankings list, will be a big challenge Friday, as the Tigers will take on No. 8 Texas Tech, the highest-ranked team in the USD tournament field, at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET at San Diego State.
That said, Princeton's highest-ranked opponent defeated in three-plus seasons under Billy Pate came in this tournament last year, when the Tigers knocked off then-No. 22 Harvard. Thursday's win was Princeton's second-highest ranked opponent defeated since then, only behind win over then-No. 24 Penn State two weekends ago.
Princeton began the afternoon Thursday by taking two out of three matches to get the doubles point, but Memphis rallied with the first two singles matches to end with wins coming from Memphis' two ITA-ranked singles players, No. 86 Andrew Watson and No. 61 Ryan Peniston, to go ahead 2-1.
Princeton followed with wins from Kial Kaiser, Tom Colautti and finally Josh Yablon with the clincher for the 4-2 final.
ITA rankings in parentheses • Order of finish: Doubles: 1,2,3; Singles: 2,1,6,3,4
Getting a fifth straight win over a ranked foe, judging by the ITA rankings list, will be a big challenge Friday, as the Tigers will take on No. 8 Texas Tech, the highest-ranked team in the USD tournament field, at 10 a.m. PT/1 p.m. ET at San Diego State.
That said, Princeton's highest-ranked opponent defeated in three-plus seasons under Billy Pate came in this tournament last year, when the Tigers knocked off then-No. 22 Harvard. Thursday's win was Princeton's second-highest ranked opponent defeated since then, only behind win over then-No. 24 Penn State two weekends ago.
Princeton began the afternoon Thursday by taking two out of three matches to get the doubles point, but Memphis rallied with the first two singles matches to end with wins coming from Memphis' two ITA-ranked singles players, No. 86 Andrew Watson and No. 61 Ryan Peniston, to go ahead 2-1.
Princeton followed with wins from Kial Kaiser, Tom Colautti and finally Josh Yablon with the clincher for the 4-2 final.
(26) Memphis (7-7)
2
4
(36) Princeton (12-4)
| Doubles | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Louis Asser/Lemke (Memphis) | 2 |
| Day/Gamble (Princeton) | 6 | |
| 2 | Peniston/Rauch (Memphis) | 6 |
| Colautti/Ben Tso (Princeton) | 4 | |
| 3 | Manji/Watson (Memphis) | 5 |
| Kaiser/Vives (Princeton) | 7 | |
| Singles | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | (86) Andrew Watson (Memphis) | 6 | 6 | |
| Diego Vives (Princeton) | 4 | 2 | ||
| 2 | (61) Ryan Peniston (Memphis) | 6 | 6 | |
| (104) Alex Day (Princeton) | 3 | 1 | ||
| 3 | Kai Lemke (Memphis) | 4 | 4 | |
| Tom Colautti (Princeton) | 6 | 6 | ||
| 4 | Chris Patzanovsky (Memphis) | 4 | 6 | 1 |
| Josh Yablon (Princeton) | 6 | 3 | 6 | |
| 5 | Felix Rauch (Memphis) | 2 | 7 | 1 |
| Luke Gamble (Princeton) | 6 | 5 | 5 | |
| DNF | ||||
| 6 | Shakeel Manji (Memphis) | 2 | 3 | |
| Kial Kaiser (Princeton) | 6 | 6 | ||
 |
Coach Billy Pate on the match: "This was another great win for us, particularly as we haven't been as sharp in the previous three matches we played outdoors before today. Memphis is a very strong team and has had a lot of success this year. As it is much of the time, the doubles was pivotal and it allowed us some breathing room as the match wore on. Though we won four first sets in singles, Memphis made a push by going up 2-1 as they were exceptionally strong at the top two positions. I was pleased with the way we kept our poise and finished with confidence. It will be a great opportunity for us tomorrow and we look forward to getting back out and building on today's match." |
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