Princeton University Athletics
Wednesday TigerBlog - On The Bus
April 15, 2026 | Tiger Blog
If you're in TigerBlog's basic age range, you'll recognize it as example of what was known every Saturday on Wide World of Sports as "The Thrill of Victory." If you don't know the reference, click HERE.
Also if you're in TB's age range, then 1) that still gives you chills and 2) you don't need him to tell you that the ill-fated ski jumper was Vinko Bogataj. Somewhat famously, at the 20 anniversary dinner for Wide World of Sports, Muhammad Ali asked Vinko for his autograph. Oh, and Vinko is still alive, now 78 years old.
Meanwhile, the woman in the picture is Princeton women's tennis sophomore Pearlie Zhang. Her thrill of victory captured here came when she scored the deciding point in Princeton's 4-3 win over Cornell this past Friday in Ithaca.
Sort of.
The actual thrill came about 30 minutes before that, except TigerBlog didn't get a good picture of it. So what did he do? He asked her to recreate it.
And hey, that's exactly how she looked after she delivered the last winner. So who will ever know the difference, right?
The win at Cornell was followed Sunday by Senior Day back in Princeton, as the team honored its lone senior, Eva Elbaz. If you haven't read TB's feature story on her yet, you can HERE.
The day was important for more than just that, though. This match, well, matched the last two Ivy League teams who hadn't lost — 4-0 Princeton vs. 4-0 Columbia.
Princeton toughed that one out, winning 4-2 when Alice Ferlito won a tiebreaker to complete a straight-set win at No. 1 singles for the deciding team point. Paige Gandy, the newest member of the Princeton creative team, was there to get Sunday's Thrill of Victory moments:
TigerBlog is relatively new to being the Princeton tennis contact, but it hasn't taken him long to be all in on the two teams.
It's been a struggle for the men since the league season began, as the team has been riddled with injuries. Before that, Princeton was the highest ranked Ivy League team and had won the eight-Ivy-team ECAC championship.
Even with the injuries and the accompanying struggles in the league, where the Tigers have not yet won a match, Princeton is still very much in the hunt for an NCAA tournament spot heading into the final weekend, which will feature home matches against Yale Saturday and Brown Sunday.
It'll also be Senior Day for the men Sunday, with three seniors: Top Nidunjianzan, Sebastian Sec and Ellis Short.
The women will be at Yale Saturday and Brown Sunday. A win either day guarantees no worse than a share of the Ivy League championship. Two wins would mean an outright championship, no matter what else happens in the league.
For TigerBlog, the experience with the tennis teams has been, in one word, fun. They're both fun groups — and where else can you see all of the men's and women's players in one group team photo:
TigerBlog jumped on the bus to Cornell to see what the difference would be between traveling with the teams he's used to (field hockey, men's lacrosse) and a different one (in this case, women's tennis). He's very glad he did.
For starters, there are 11 players, as opposed to 24 field hockey players or 52 men's lacrosse players. That alone changes the whole dynamic. Here is one of his main observations: the volume level of the women's tennis bus is pretty much halfway between that of field hockey (loud) and men's lax (very not loud).
Also, it was a much less regimented trip. By the nature of having so many more players, the other teams need to have might stricter itineraries.
Mostly, though, it was a chance to get to know a group of coaches and players he didn't know at all a few months ago, to figure out the personalities behind their stats and their styles on the court. And to see them compete for their goal, of an Ivy championship.
TB has been doing this for a very long time. He has always said that the best part is the opportunity to work with some of the greatest young people you'll find anywhere — and to hopefully do at least a little to help them have the best experience at Princeton they can.
The trip to Cornell? It was definitely worth it.
