Princeton University
Arizona
Arizona Defeats Princeton to Open Blue Gray National Tennis Classic
February 23, 2018 | Men's Tennis
Scores | Draw | Twitter: @PtonMensTennis
The bracket began Friday for the Princeton men's tennis team at the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic in Montgomery, Ala., with Arizona winning a doubles point that came down to a tiebreaker and then taking the first three singles matches off court to clinch the win.
Princeton got a win at second doubles from Payton Holden and Ryan Seggerman before dropping a match at third doubles and seeing the match at first go to the Wildcats in a tiebreaker. Arizona then took matches on courts five, three and four to reach the fourth point and advance in the draw.
"We made a late surge against Arizona though it was just a bit late," Princeton coach Billy Pate said. "We had a good chance to seize the doubles in our third straight doubles point decided by a final tiebreaker. When we didn't convert, it gave Arizona momentum and it took a while for us to claw back into the singles. It was likely Kial and Davey (Roberts) were going to get straight-set wins, but we needed one more push to get over the hump. We're not far from where we need to be and the final score was not indicative of the competitiveness of the match."
Princeton then opened its match against Rice in doubles, getting a match on court three from Davey Roberts and Ben Tso and on one from Luke Gamble and Damian Rodriguez.
The match with the Owls will resume at 10 a.m. local/11 a.m. Eastern Saturday with singles play. Princeton will then play another match at noon local/1 p.m. ET or 4 p.m. local/5 p.m. ET against Boise State or Auburn.
"We're pleased to be up 1-0 against Rice heading into tomorrow's singles matches," Pate said. "We weren't as sharp in that doubles point, but we managed to get through. It will be a long day of tennis tomorrow and we're looking forward to the opportunities in front of us."
Arizona 4, Princeton 0
Doubles
1. Carlos Hassey/Karpovets (Arizona) def. Gamble/Rodriguez (Princeton), 7-6(3)
2. Payton Holden/Seggerman (Princeton) def. Botha/Malbasic (Arizona), 6-1
3. Maier/Reguant (Arizona) def. Kaiser/Vives (Princeton), 6-1
Singles
1. Trent Botha (Arizona) vs. Kial Kaiser (Princeton), 2-6, 6-6(5-3), unfinished
2. Igor Karpovets (Arizona) vs. Ryan Seggerman (Princeton), 6-4, 3-6, 4-1, unfinished
3. Aaro Pollanen (Arizona) def. Damian Rodriguez (Princeton), 6-3, 6-1
4. Jonas Maier (Arizona) def. Luke Gamble (Princeton), 6-4, 7-6(4)
5. Filip Malbasic (Arizona) def. Diego Vives (Princeton), 6-1, 6-1
6. Alejandro Reguant (Arizona) vs. Davey Roberts (Princeton), 5-7, 4-4, unfinished
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (5,3,4)
Princeton 1, Rice 0 (singles Saturday, 10 a.m. CT/11 a.m. ET)
Doubles
1. Luke Gamble/Damian Rodriguez (Princeton) def. Eric Rutledge/Sumit Sarkar (Rice), 7-5
2. Jacob Eskeland/Conrad Russell (Rice) def. Payton Holden/Ryan Seggerman (Princeton), 6-3
3. Davey Roberts/Ben Tso (Princeton) def. Mohamed Abdel-Aziz/Austin Moninger (Rice), 6-4
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1)
Players Mentioned
