Yale Athletics

This past weekend, the Elis traveled to Princeton, New Jersey, and Philadelphia to face off against the Tigers and Quakers in the first back-to-back matches of the new year.

On Saturday, the men’s team (2–2, 0–2 Ivy), ranked No. 2 in the pre-season, faced off against Princeton’s squad (5–0, 1–0 Ivy), ranked No. 3. In the highly competitive match, the Bulldogs fell to Princeton (4–5) despite their higher ranking. 

Juniors Tad Carney ’26 and Arav Bhagwati ’26 defeated Princeton’s Ahmad Wael (3–1) and Zain Ahmed (3–1). Sophomore Lachlan Sutton ’27 won his match against Hollis Robertson (3–1) and first-year Rishi Srivastava ’28 fought to beat Aly Ibrahim (3–2). However, despite these four wins, the Elis didn’t win the necessary fifth match out of nine to secure a victory.

The women’s team (2–3, 0–2 Ivy), ranked No. 7, bitterly fell to Princeton’s (4–0, 1–0 Ivy) No. 4-ranked team (9–0).

The Bulldogs continued fighting at Penn on Sunday, but they were still overall unsuccessful. The Quakers toppled both the men’s and women’s teams (8–1).

Srivastava picked up his second win of the weekend, defeating Penn’s Zane Patel (3–1). Whitney Taylor ’26 helped the women’s team pick up a victory over Jana Dweek (3–).

Reflecting on her victory, Taylor credits her supportive teammates’ cheers as she battled Dweek in a close match-up.

“The highlight of my match was looking back to see the entire Yale WSQ team cheering after securing a hard-fought second game,” Taylor wrote to the News. “Their energy was so contagious that it gave me the boost I needed to maintain momentum for the rest of the match.” 

As the Bulldogs continue to train for the rest of their season, they will not let last weekend’s losses hold them back, players told the News. Instead, they will use them as energy to work even harder going forward.

“It’s always tough to face two top teams back-to-back, but the effort displayed by the whole team is a success in itself. We are still early in the season, with plenty of opportunities to apply our training and improve before Nationals,” Taylor said. “One weekend doesn’t define the entire season. If anything, I believe it will fuel us for the upcoming matches.”

Although the losses put the Bulldogs “out of contention for the Ivy League,” according to men’s team captain Maxwell Orr ’25, he is confident in the team’s ability to make a comeback. The games against two strong teams showed the Bulldogs where they need to improve to “match their level,” he added.

The Elis will travel to Hanover, New Hampshire, to play Dartmouth on Friday, Jan. 17 and then return to New Haven to play Harvard on Sunday, Jan. 19.