The men’s tennis team started off the Ivy League season with a win and a loss this past weekend while on the road.
The Bulldogs battled 20 mph winds in addition to an unranked Penn team to come out with a hard-earned first victory in the Ivy League, 5–2. The next day’s match against the unranked Tigers did not go as well, ending in a tough 4–3 loss.
“[This weekend] just shows that every single team in the Ivies is super tight and that any match can go any way,” John Huang ’13 said. “Today we were a little unlucky, and hopefully we can turn it around next weekend.”
Against Penn, Yale (12–6, 1–1 Ivy) won the doubles point, extending its streak of winning the doubles point to six matches. At the No. 1 doubles position, the No. 67 pair of Daniel Hoffman ’13 and Marc Powers ’13 had an easy 8–4 win. At No. 2 doubles, Patrick Chase ’14 and Huang earned a close 8–6 win.
In singles, the Elis came out on top as well. Huang won his sixth consecutive match when he played at No. 2 this weekend 6–2, 6–1. At No. 3, Hoffman won 6–1, 6–4. Team captain Erik Blumenkranz ’12 and Powers both split sets with their opponents and came out victorious in the third, at the No. 4 and No. 1 positions respectively. Yale’s only losses in the singles round came at No.5 and No. 6.
“It was great to come out and win our first Ivy match of the year,” Hoffman said. “The conditions were really tough, but everyone battled really hard and played smart. All of the Ivies are really good this year, so everyone winning is extremely important.”
Against the Tigers, the Bulldogs won the doubles point after the senior pair of Blumenkranz and Joel Samaha ’12 came back from match point to win 9–7. The No. 1 doubles pair of Powers and Hoffman suffered their first loss since losing to Stanford’s No. 1 pair 8–1 back in March.
Hoffman said the doubles point was crucial to win in order for Yale to stay in the match. Both Hoffman and Huang won their matches at the No. 3 and No. 2 positions respectively, the only two to win their matches in singles. The Elis suffered a tough loss at No. 5 when Zach Krumholz ’15 began to cramp after the first set.
“I thought today was a great match; it could have gone either way,” head coach Alex Dorato said. “We put ourselves in a position to win it and that’s all I can ask for.”
Next weekend the Bulldogs will come up against No. 50 Columbia in a home match. Columbia is now tied for first in the Ivies with Princeton. Both share a league record of 3–0. Staying at home, Yale will then take on Cornell, which currently has an Ivy League record of 0–3. Dorato said if Yale is able to defeat Columbia and if Princeton loses to Harvard, Yale will be tied for first in the Ivies.