{"id":631036,"date":"2026-04-27T02:47:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T02:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/631036\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T02:47:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T02:47:11","slug":"womens-tennis-wins-ivy-title-makes-return-to-dynastic-dominance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/631036\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s tennis wins Ivy title, makes return to dynastic dominance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Princeton women\u2019s tennis (18\u20133 overall, 6\u20131 Ivy League) ended its regular season in triumph, bringing the Ivy title home to Princeton for the 19th time. The moment of victory came with sophomore Madeleine Jessup\u2019s win at No. 4 singles against Brown. Coming back from a set down, she hit a forehand winner to seal the match and claim the title, which is shared with Yale. With a roar of \u201ccome on!\u201d she was immediately mobbed by her screaming teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, I kind of forgot the title was on the line in the moment and was just so happy to celebrate another win together,\u201d Jessup wrote to The Daily Princetonian after the game. \u201cI think what made this season so special is that we played every match like there was a title on the line and celebrated every win the same way, which is why we\u2019ve come this far,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n

Princeton is sharing the Ivy League title with Yale, which was the Tigers’ only loss in the ECAC tournament. After a blazing 9\u20131 start to the year, the Tigers headed out west during spring break for a three-match slate in sunny Southern California. Not only did they sweep all three dual matches, but the Tigers dropped only one point, as junior Bella Chhiv and senior Eva Elbaz shone in both singles and doubles.<\/p>\n

But the Tigers’ path to clinching the title was not without tribulation. The team was brought down to earth with a 4\u20133 loss to Wake Forest, their second loss of the season, but this evidently did not curb their momentum. As conference play began against Penn, vengeance was on the agenda; last season, the Quakers overcame the Tigers in painful fashion. This time, Princeton made quick work of Penn with a 4\u20130 sweep. The Tigers kept rolling against Harvard and Dartmouth, defeating both with clinical singles performances despite dropping the doubles point. The win over Dartmouth was particularly significant, as another difficult loss last season came at the hands of the Big Green.<\/p>\n

After a win against Cornell, the next big test was against Columbia, the only other remaining undefeated team in the Ivy League. After a standout performance by junior Alice Ferlito at first singles, which saw her save a set point and later rip three consecutive winners to win the match, the Tigers were the last team standing in Ivy League play.<\/p>\n

But would the Tigers be able to avenge themselves agaainst Yale, who earlier dismissed them 4\u20131 in the ECAC tournament? Not this time, as the Tigers fell by that same scoreline. Princeton dropped first through third singles in straight sets, and the team’s lone point was delivered by Jessup. That loss meant everything would come down to Princeton\u2019s final match of the season against Brown, with the title still in play.<\/p>\n

After two straightforward doubles victories, as well as straight-set singles victories for Ferlito and Chhiv, Jessup sealed the deal in a moment that won\u2019t soon be forgotten.<\/p>\n

\u201cWinning a share of the Ivy League Title with this team is an amazing feeling that really isn\u2019t quantifiable,\u201d Women\u2019s Tennis Head Coach Elizabeth Johnson wrote to the \u2018Prince.\u2019 \u201cWe really believed the last month that they would do it, so it was a great feeling when that last ball was hit.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Jessup was even more effusive: \u201cThis is definitely one of the greatest moments of my tennis career, and probably always will be,\u201d she wrote. \u201cWinning for something bigger than just yourself, with incredible people right next to you, is a really tough experience to beat.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Princeton shares this title with Yale, which also had a 6\u20131 conference record, and lost the head-to-head against the Bulldogs, it is Yale that received the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, leaving Princeton in the difficult situation of waiting to see if they will make it in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an unusual position to be in,\u201d Johnson wrote. \u201cThere are still conference tournaments playing this weekend, so hopefully the cards fall into place, and we get in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the stressful circumstances, Princeton players are handling the end of the season with optimistic equanimity. \u201cIt goes by so fast,\u201d Jessup wrote of her time playing tennis with Princeton, \u201cand before you know it, you\u2019re playing the last match of the season and your last one with your senior(s). Whether that\u2019s in the postseason or next season, I just want to keep leaving it all out there and be proud of the way we compete together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson was similarly hopeful but grounded: \u201cIt\u2019s hard to predict what we could do in the tournament,\u201d she wrote. \u201cWe have won a lot this season, and I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if we continued to do just that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever happens when the NCAA Tournament field is announced on Monday, Princeton has a season they can be proud of forever. This is Princeton\u2019s fifth Ivy title in six seasons, which cements the Tigers as a dynasty, and it is Johnson\u2019s first title with the team in her second year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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More than any outcome, Johnson wants to linger on the process. \u201cSomething I want to emphasize [is] the way they win,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThey make it fun. They come up with new cheers. They really do pull each other over the finish line every match, and I am so happy they get the recognition of an Ivy Title.\u201d<\/p>\n

Julian Benkin Danoff is a Sports contributor for the \u2018Prince.\u2019<\/p>\n

Please send any corrections to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Princeton women\u2019s tennis (18\u20133 overall, 6\u20131 Ivy League) ended its regular season in triumph, bringing the Ivy title…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-631036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}