Both the men’s and the women’s tennis teams saw action in individual tournaments this weekend, with matches featuring victories from newcomers and veterans alike. The men’s team traveled to Princeton to compete in the Ivy Plus Tournament, while the women hosted the Brown Invitational in their first tournament of the season.
The men’s play at the Ivy Plus Tournament brought strong performances from many of the team’s first-years. Peter Tarwid ’18 reached the quarterfinals of the tournament’s Jersey Draw, one of the tournament’s many pools, where he lost in a three-set match to Columbia’s Daniel Grunberger. Later, Brandon Yeoh ’18 went on to defeat Grunberger in the finals of the Jersey Draw.
“Brandon had an exceptional performance. … He beat several other players from Harvard and Yale,” said Justin To ’15.5. “All around, the freshmen showed great potential this tournament.”
In doubles competition play, To and Yeoh competed together and defeated Stefan Menichella and Tom Hill of Pepperdine University in the round of 32, before falling to Billy Pecor and Alex Lawson of the University of Notre Dame in the round of 16.
With the departure of Daniel Hirschberg ’15 and Will Spector ’15, as well as the arrival of new Head Coach Bryan Koniecko, there has been a very different dynamic on the squad.
“We’re still at the start of the season, but (this season) appears much more promising,” To said. “Coaching and training have been great so far, and we’re all looking forward to stepping it up in the spring. … Results will come.”
The women’s tennis team kicked off its season on College Hill this weekend, hosting seven teams. “It was good getting lots of match play and I think we all competed particularly well — it’s always nice having our first tournament of the year at home,” said Nikita Uberoi ’15.
The squad includes two new first-years this year, Alyza Benotto ’18 and Maddie Stearns ’18. Both reached the semifinals of their singles draws. “It was nice to see how quickly they were able to adjust to college tennis,” Uberoi said.
The tournament featured two Brown vs. Brown finals — in doubles competition play, Hannah Camhi ’16 and Dayna Lord ’17 faced up against Ashley Noyes ’16 and Benotto, with the win going to Camhi and Lord. And in singles competition play, Camhi and Uberoi matched up, with Uberoi taking the victory after three sets. Lord and Uberoi both won their flights in singles, while Olivia Hsu ’16 and Ammu Mandalap ’16 both reached the finals in their respective flights.
As one of the two seniors on the team this year, Uberoi has taken on a leadership role.
“Last year we had no seniors, so Sarah Kandath ’15 and I did take on some additional responsibility as juniors,” Uberoi said. “We’re all very close and have a good understanding of team dynamics so just the added experience that senior year brings along will definitely be helpful as we continue our season and prepare for Ivies.”
The men’s tennis team continues play next weekend at the Brown Invitational in Honor of Margaux Powers on College Hill, while the women’s tennis team continues play this weekend as it travels west to Los Angeles to compete in the All-American Tournament.
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