Courtesy: Princeton Athletic CommunicationsNEW YORK -- With a sweep of Columbia Sunday afternoon in New York City, the Princeton women's tennis team has won its first Ivy League title since 2000 and since the establishment of an Ivy women's tennis championship in 1980.
Princeton's other titles came in 1980, 1982, 1983, 1990, 1993, 1994 and 2000.
The sweep of the Lions finishes Princeton's regular season at 6-1 in the Ivy and 18-7 overall. Thanks to Harvard's 5-2 win over Yale later Sunday, Princeton clinched its first NCAA tournament berth since 2000. It remains to be seen whether Princeton's Ivy title will be outright or shared with Harvard, as Harvard is the only other league team that can also finish 6-1 in the league if it wins against Dartmouth Wednesday. But Princeton will get the NCAA bid regardless since it beat Harvard last weekend.
The Ivy title comes in the fifth season after Kathy Sell took over for longtime coach Louise Gengler, and is also on the heels of back-to-back top-two national recruiting classes.
Lauren McHale, Hilary Bartlett, Rachel Saiontz, Taylor Marable and Blakely Ashley were all winners in singles and doubles, while Kristen Scott contributed to a win at third doubles and Melissa Saiontz got a win at third singles. Every singles win came in straight sets and Princeton's duos never surrendered more than two points in the three doubles matches.
(46) Princeton (18-7, 6-1 Ivy) 7, Columbia (5-15, 0-7) 0
Doubles
1. Bartlett/Marable (P) def. Suda/Linnae Goswami (C), 8-1
2. McHale/R. Saiontz (P) def. Matache/Hall (C), 8-2
3. Ashley/Kristen Scott (P) def. Donovan/Natalia Christenson (C), 8-2
Singles
1. Lauren McHale (P) def. Natasha Makarova (C), 6-0, 6-1
2. Hilary Bartlett (P) def. Nicole Stanziola (C), 6-3, 6-3
3. Melissa Saiontz (P) def. Marlena Hall (C), 6-1, 6-0
4. Rachel Saiontz (P) def. Eliza Matache (C), 6-1, 6-2
5. Taylor Marable (P) def. Carling Donovan (C), 6-2, 6-0
6. Blakely Ashley (P) def. Nina Suda (C), 6-0, 6-0
