Nobody needed to tell Marisa Schonfeld '11 that tennis is a game of inches. But she learned Sunday at Yale that not everybody uses the same ruler.
With the overall team score tied at three in the second match of the weekend's competitions, the No. 5 seed lost a tough three-set match to Yale's Stevi Petrelli, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4. The 5 1/2-hour conference opener between the Bears (9-5, 0-1) and the Bulldogs (5-8, 1-0) was capped off by a big moment of controversy.
After facing two third-set match points at 5-3, 40-15, Schonfeld won four points in a row to narrow the score to 5-4. Petrelli started the next game leading 30-15 before hitting a down-the-line backhand, which Schonfeld called out.
But Petrelli challenged the call and the umpire overruled Schonfeld - albeit from the other side of the court.
Head Coach Paul Wardlaw was surprised that the umpire claimed he could see the ball clearly enough to overrule the player.
"If you ask any ump, they will not overrule that line (because they) can't see that line" Wardlaw said. "He based it on the fan reaction."
As the Yale fans cheered the overruling on one side of the net, the Brown players were stunned.
"The entire match, the umpire had not really paid much attention to the matches," said No. 2 singles player Sara Mansur '09. She added, "Marisa is really generous with her line calls. I've never seen her make a bad line call."
Schonfeld said that her rulings throughout the match had been fair.
"As far as I'm concerned, there were serves that she hit ... that I didn't call out that were a foot out," she said."I would not have called that ball if I hadn't seen space between it and the line.
At that angle, a referee is not even supposed to make that call from there."
However, Schonfeld was insistent that there were other points she should have won, so the overruling was only one setback.
After Friday's 6-1 win over Army (17-6), the team's 4-3 loss on Sunday ended its eight-match winning streak, but it featured many bright spots.
Schonfeld's rubber match was set up by two strong singles wins as well as the team's win of the doubles point.
After posting a three-set win over Army, No. 1 Bianca Aboubakare '11 displayed a new level of mastery in her 11th consecutive win on Sunday. Her 6-1, 6-2 victory over Janet Kim, who was named First-Team all-Ivy in each of the last two seasons, was her best collegiate performance, Wardlaw said.
Aboubakare said that she was able to increase her intensity while making few errors.
"I always want to win, but that day, playing an Ivy match, I just felt that it was really important to do my best," she said.
No. 4 Tanja Vucetic '10 provided the other singles victory against Yale, rebounding from a 6-3, 6-2 loss on Friday. She topped fellow Floridian Sarah Lederhandler 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-4.
"Friday wasn't a good day for me," Vucetic said. "I don't think I was very focused, and I think that was the biggest difference between the two matches."
At No. 2 singles, Mansur defeated her Army opponent 6-4, 7-6 (5), but she lost against Yale 7-6 (3), 6-0. After a tight first set against Yale, Mansur said her opponent came out swinging.
"In the second set, she just pulled out really strong," she said. "She capitalized on the short ball."
Both No. 3 Brett Finkelstein '09 and No. 6 Emily Ellis '10 rounded out the Yale contest, both losing 6-1, 6-1. Against Army, Finkelstein won 6-1, 6-2 and Ellis won 7-5, 6-4. Schonfeld won her match 6-0, 6-0.
The team came away from the 4-3 loss encouraged about the rest of the season's prospects.
The coaches said that their team has vastly improved since the Bears lost to Yale 6-1 last season.
This weekend, the team will have an opportunity to show its growth against No. 64 Princeton (7-7, 0-1) and No. 72 Pennsylvania (6-6, 1-0).
The Bears will play the Tigers on Friday at 2 p.m. and the defending champion Quakers on Saturday at noon, both at the Pizzitola Center.
This weekend's matches will do a great deal in determining if the school can contend for its third Ivy trophy. Wardlaw predicted that both contests will be close.
"It's going to come down to the last court," Wardlaw said.
It might even come down to a line.
