The No. 62 women's tennis team had a tough spring break schedule, facing three higher ranked teams — No. 13 Miami, No. 41 Florida International and No. 28 Princeton, last year's Ivy League champion. In the end, the Bears could not pull any upsets, though they came close against Florida International. They lost their competitions to Miami, Florida International and Princeton, 7-0, 4-3 and 5-2, respectively and dominated Penn, 7-0.
No. 13 Miami 7, Brown 0
The Bears traveled to Florida to start their spring break against Miami. The Hurricanes dominated the Bears in every category in straight sets.
"We played well in doubles," said Head Coach Paul Wardlaw P'13. "The transition to outdoor courts was definitely a factor too. Miami was too strong of an opponent."
No. 41 Florida International 4, Brown 3
The team tried to regroup the next day against Florida International. Because the two teams split the singles matches, doubles proved to be the deciding point. After the first doubles tandem dropped their match, 8-5, to their No. 53-ranked opponents, the second doubles team of Julie Flanzer '12 and Misia Krasowski '13 put the Bears back in the game, winning 8-4. But the Panthers came through in the final doubles match and defeated the Brown pair, 8-3, to win the decisive doubles point.
"We played well enough to win the matchup," Wardlaw said. "That was one of my more disappointing losses because we kind of let it slip away."
Brown 7, Penn 0
After the tough loss to the Golden Panthers, the Bears returned home to prepare for the Ivy League opener against Penn. Against the struggling Quakers, who were 4-9 in the season heading into the April 2 matchup, the Bears did not let up and took every opportunity to score. After taking all three doubles matches, the women went on to win all six single matches. Catherine Stewart '12 closed out the No. 5 singles match and the final match of the day, 10-3, in the third set.
"We were confident going in against Penn," Wardlaw said.
No. 28 Princeton 5, Brown 2
The Princeton Tigers came to Brown last Saturday on a five-game winning streak, having just defeated Penn and Yale, 7-0 and 6-1, respectively. They extended their winning streak to six after winning all three doubles matches and four of the six singles matches against the Bears. Bianca Aboubakare '11 and Marisa Schonfeld '11 earned the two team points for the Bears after they won the No. 2 and No. 6 singles matches. Flanzer came close in the No. 4 singles match, splitting the first two sets, but eventually lost the final set, 10-3.
"It was a winnable game," Wardlaw said. "We got off to a slow start on doubles, but we had some good wins in singles."
With a 1-1 record in Ivy League play, the Bears will travel to New York this weekend to face off against Columbia on Friday and Cornell on Saturday.
"Both teams will be tough," Wardlaw said. "Cornell is the stronger opponent. We will have our hands full since teams always perform better with home advantage."
