Women's tennis Head Coach Paul Wardlaw looked pleased to see Brown ahead of Princeton, 2-1, last Friday, just one year after losing to the Tigers, 7-0. But by the end of the six-hour contest, the final result was the same as last year's.
The Bears (9-7, 0-3 Ivy League) lost to Princeton (8-8, 1-2 Ivy after losing to Yale the next day) by a tight score of 4-3. They started off strongly the following day against No. 63 Pennsylvania (7-7, 2-1), only to lose again, this time 5-2.
In the first match of the weekend, Bruno lost the doubles point to Princeton, 2-1. The first win of the day came at No. 1 singles, in which Bianca Aboubakare '11 engaged in a battle that was as emotional as it was physical.
Princeton's Melissa Saiontz, ranked No. 83 in the nation, was vocal from the get-go, verbally chastising herself after almost every point she lost. Pairing that style with Aboubakare's loud exultations only added to the intensity of the close match.
Neither player lost a service game in the first set until the 12th game, when Aboubakare broke Saiontz for the 7-5 set victory. The second set featured more heavy hitting - and screaming - before Aboubakare prevailed, 6-4, for the win.
Aboubakare let the umpire worry about Saiontz's outbursts, which led to a point penalty for smashing her racquet and a warning for hitting the ball too aggressively at Aboubakare after a point. Aboubakare also came away with a warning after she shouted "Come on!" before a point completely ended.
Aboubakare said she knew how to control her opponent mentally and focused on a strong level of play.
"I knew that my cheering myself on and not being negative would bother her," the freshman said. "She's kind of immature emotionally."
Wardlaw said the team was aware of Saiontz's "shtick." Saiontz's sister, Amanda Saiontz '07, played tennis at Brown, giving the team some familiarity with the family.
"It was definitely a mental victory for Bianca," he said. "Bianca had to make a lot of adjustments during the points."
Aboubakare's 12th straight win put her record at 12-2 in the spring season and 24-5 overall.
The team's second win was captured by No. 4 Tanja Vucetic '10, who was one of four singles players to take a match to three sets. She won 6-4, 1-6, 6-1.
Still on the court at this time were No. 2 Sara Mansur '09 and No. 3 Brett Finkelstein '09. Both women won their first sets but found themselves engaged in tough battles.
Mansur won her first set, 7-5, before losing the second set in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (5). She came out strong in the third set, leading 4-1, but she ran out of energy as the match eclipsed the two-and-a-half hour mark. She lost five games in a row, dropping the third set, 6-4.
Mansur said her opponent gained steam late in the third set, while her own tiredness played a major role.
Likewise, Finkelstein engaged in a three-set contest. She took the first set, 7-5, before losing the second set, 6-2. The third set was a back-and-forth battle, but her opponent went on a streak at 3-3 to win, 6-3.
Finkelstein said fatigue wasn't a factor for her. Instead, her opponent simply missed fewer shots.
"My serve is what let me down," she said.
Now down 3-2, Brown had to pull out victories from both its No. 5 and No. 6 seeds. Instead, No. 6 Emily Ellis '10 lost 6-1, 6-1. No. 5 Marisa Schonfeld '11 pulled out a victory in her third set, but that only meant that the Bears would finish the day on the short end of a 4-3 tally.
"What the issue is for our guys, as you break through (to) the next level (of competition), is battling through your discomforts," said Assistant Coach Cecily Dubusker.
The team was back on the Pizzitola Center courts the next day, this time against Penn.
Wardlaw changed the doubles lineup by placing Ellis with Kelley Kirkpatrick '08 at No. 2 and Mansur with Kathrin Sorokko '10 at No. 3. The move paid off as both duos won their pro sets, compensating for Aboubakare and Schonfeld's loss to the country's 27th-best doubles team.
The score was tied after Finkelstein lost, 6-4, 6-2 to Julia Koulbitskaya, a two-time First Team All-Ivy player.
Then came a rarity. For the first time since Feb. 8, Aboubakare was defeated in singles, even though she started off looking like she was on her way to another victory.
Matched up against Ekaterina Kosminskaya, the unanimous Ivy League Player of the Year last year as a freshman, Aboubakare kept her energy up from Friday's match and took the first set, 6-3.
Aboubakare jumped on top in the second set, as well, leading 2-0. But then Kosminskaya, No. 117 in the nation, turned the tables on her. She won 12 games in a row against Aboubakare, finishing off the second set 6-2 and sweeping the third set 6-0.
"She definitely stepped up her game," Aboubakare said. "I didn't change my plans quick enough. She got used to how I was playing."
At No. 2, Mansur dropped another three-set match. She won the first set, 7-6 (5), but lost the second set, 6-7 (3), squandering two match points when she was up 5-4. Mansur dropped her third set, 6-0, exhausted after two long matches in just over a day.
"I was tired, but I probably should've pulled some reserve energy from somewhere," she said. "I choked in the tiebreaker."
Vucetic became the only Brown player to start the conference season 3-0, after a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 win.
The coaches were excited about the sophomore's progress this season in adjusting to tough opponents.
"She played kind of a fiery player," Dubusker said. "She's not going to back down because of that."
Down 3-2, Bruno looked to its final two seeds to rescue them. Schonfeld played her opponent tough but came away with a 6-4, 6-2 loss. Playing at No. 6, Ashley Butler '11 lost 6-3, 6-2.
The team was discouraged about the close losses, but nobody could ignore the differences in the matches against both teams. Both Penn and Princeton defeated Brown 7-0 last year and Yale, which beat Bruno 4-3 last week, defeated the Bears 6-1 last year.
"In all three of our Ivy matches, there was a point in the match where we all thought we were going to win the match," Wardlaw said. "Every match we've had, there's been a tipping point."
Though the Bears are done playing possibly the roughest part of their schedule, their 0-3 start will be difficult to overcome. Still, with the progress witnessed so far, the team is optimistic.
"I'm not discouraged," Mansur said. "These are probably the three best teams in the conference."
The team's coaches said that the players showed this weekend how much they have progressed - and how much more they need to do to compete with the top guns.
"The mistake would be to come out of these matches without learning anything," Dubusker said.
After this weekend's performance, the women's tennis team has announced to the Ivy League that it can play. But pulling out more victories will take an extra step.
The team continues its season Friday at Cornell and Saturday at Columbia.
