With the entire women's tennis team anxiously looking on, Michelle Pautler '07, ahead 5-4 in the third set of her match against Columbia University's Lauren Shearer, settled in for her fifth match point. The match was crucial for the Bears because Pautler's point presented an opportunity to break a 3-3 tie in the contest and propel the team to its first Ivy League win of the season.
Ignoring the pressure of the situation, she did not disappoint. With Pautler at the net, her opponent tried to lob a shot over her. But Pautler connected on a shattering overhead to take the match 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 and secure the squad's first victory. The win improved the Bears' record to 5-11 on the season and 1-3 in Ivy League play.
Bruno desperately needed the type of victory it attained on Saturday. The previous day, the Bears came out very flat against a beatable Cornell squad that was 1-2 in the conference. The Big Red rolled to a 5-2 win. The only two Bears to capture victories were Daisy Ames '07, playing first singles, and Amanda Saiontz '07, who had a dominating win at second singles. Saiontz came from behind to take her match by a score of 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.
Against Columbia, however, it was the bottom of the lineup that carried the team to victory. After a sweep of the doubles draw gave the Bears a 1-0 lead, Saiontz and third singles player Ashley Pariser '08 both fell in straight sets. Ames fought valiantly at first singles but eventually succumbed in a three-set tiebreaker, 0-6, 6-0, 6-7.
Those three losses left Brown's fourth, fifth and sixth singles players with the job of bringing home the win. Brett Finkelstein '09 and Sara Mansur '09, the dynamic first-year duo, each contributed dominating straight-set victories to pull Bruno even. With the score tied 3-3, all eyes turned to Pautler, who came through when needed at sixth singles.
Pautler's win was anything but easy. It was clear she was feeling the effects of two straight days of tennis, especially after not playing for months because of injury.
"I was physically exhausted," she said. "But I wasn't going to let my team down. I tried to block those feelings out."
Head Coach Paul Wardlaw said he was impressed with Pautler's performance in a tough situation for a player still easing her way back into competition.
"To Michelle's credit, she was very composed in such a pressure situation," he said. "Michelle tends to be a fiery player with lots of emotion, but she remained calm. She did a great job."
Columbia boasted a 3-1 conference mark heading into the contest and was considered a very formidable opponent for the Bears. With the team's three remaining matches against Dartmouth, No. 15 Harvard and Yale, Wardlaw hopes the win inspires the team to make a run at a winning record in the league. The Crimson is the league's top team, and the Bulldogs are fourth.
"I think there are a lot of monkeys being lifted off of people's backs in this win," Wardlaw said. "Sara and Brett got their first Ivy wins of the season, as did Michelle, and the team as a whole got its first Ivy victory. It should relax everyone as we head into the rest of the season."
The Bears will face Dartmouth at home on Friday at 3 p.m.
