Tribe Drops Close Match at No. 45 Princeton

Senior Carmen Pop won her ninth straight singles match and improved to an impressive 11-1 in dual-match play.

03/05/10 4:30PM

Princeton, N.J. - The No. 59 William and Mary women’s tennis team fell on the road at No. 45 Princeton, 5-2, on Friday afternoon. After the Green and Gold got off to a good start by claiming the doubles point, the Tigers won five of six singles matches, including the decisive three in three sets. W&M fell to 5-7 overall, while Princeton improved to 8-4 on the season.

The duo of senior Lauren Sabacinski and freshman Marlen Mesgarzadeh jumped started the College in doubles play. The Tribe tandem rolled to an 8-2 win over Sarah Hoffman and Melissa Saiontz at the No. 3 doubles position to improve to 4-2 on the season. After the Tigers won at the No. 1 spot to even things, the College’s pair of senior Carmen Pop and freshman Anik Cepeda clinched the initial point of the match with a triumph at the No. 2 spot. Pop and Cepeda won a nail-bitter, 9-8 (2), in a tiebreaker over Blakely Ashley and Rachel Saiontz for their 13th doubles win of the year.

In singles action, Pop continued her winning ways with a straight-set win at the No. 3 singles spot. She ran her winning streak to nine matches in upping her season ledger to 17-7 overall and 11-1 in dual-match play. Pop downed Rachel Saiontz, 6-3, 6-4.

The match ultimately came down to a trio of three-set matches at the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4 singles positions. In the end, though, Princeton claimed all three points in securing the 5-2 team win. At the No. 1 position, No. 70-ranked Hilary Bartlett rallied from a set deficit to down the Tribe’s Ragini Acharya, 5-7, 6-4, 6-1. Melissa Saiontz downed Mesgarzadeh, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, at the No. 2 slot, while Taylor Marable upended W&M’s Nina Vulovich, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, at the No. 3 spot.

W&M will wrap up its seven-game road trip when it travels to Puerto Rico to face a pair of national top 10 teams. The Tribe faces No. 3 Notre Dame on Tuesday, March 9, before taking on No. 8 Duke on Thursday, March 11.

#45 Princeton 5, #59 William and Mary 2
Singles
No. 1 - #70 Hilary Bartlett (Princeton) def. Ragini Acharya (W&M) - 5-7, 6-4, 6-1
No. 2 - Melissa Saiontz (Princeton) def. Marlen Mesgarzadeh (W&M), 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
No. 3 - Carmen Pop (W&M) def. Rachel Saiontz (Princeton), 6-3, 6-4
No. 4 - Taylor Marable (Princeton) def. Nina Vulovich (W&M), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
No. 5 - Blakely Ashley (Princeton) def. Anik Cepeda (W&M), 6-4, 6-1
No. 6 - Sarah Hoffman (Princeton) def. Katie Kargl (W&M), 6-4, 6-0
Order of finish: 5, 3, 4, 1, 6*, 2

Doubles
No. 1 - #28 Bartlett/Marable (Princeton) def. Acharya/Kargl (W&M) - 8-4
No. 2 - Cepeda/Pop (W&M) def. Ashley/R. Saiontz (Princeton) - 9-8(2)
No. 3 - Mesgarzadeh/Sabacinski (W&M) def. Hoffman/M. Saiontz (Princeton) - 8-2
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2*