Weekly Sports Roundup (4/1-4/7)

In the heat of conference play, many Yale teams are building on the successes of a semester of hard work—and the women's tennis team is a prime example. The No. 41 Bulldogs (13–2, 2–0 Ivy) defeated the Princeton Tigers 5–2 on Saturday and went on to take down the Penn Quakers by the same score on Sunday. Yale played the same lineup both days, with captain Elizabeth Epstein ’13 in the No. 1 singles spot and joined by Annie Sullivan ’14 for the No. 1 doubles spot. 

In other sports news this week (information from Yale Sports Publicity):

Men's Lacrosse

The No. 16 Bulldogs are on a roll. After a 13–6 victory over Providence College, the men's lacrosse team (6–3, 2–2 Ivy) went on to defeat Dartmouth with a score of 7–5. The win leaves the Bulldogs tied with Penn for third place in the Ivy League standings. The team takes on Brown on Friday for its fifth conference game.

Women's Crew

In its second meet of the season, the No. 10 women's crew team is already putting up fierce competition for its Ivy opponents. The Bulldogs claimed the Cayuga Cup with victories in the varsity eight, second varsity, varsity four and second varsity four races. The varsity eight had the day's most impressive performance: it finished roughly five seconds ahead of No. 18 Cornell with its time of 7:03.6. The Bulldogs face Boston University, Dartmouth, and Clemson next weekend.

Coed Sailing

Yet again this week, the No. 1 Bulldogs have proved that they are unstoppable. The coed sailing team claimed the Marchiando and Friis Trophies Team Race this weekend, while also placing eighth at the Greater New York Dinghy Regatta. Yale only lost one race, to Brown, as part of the first competition. The team will sail the New England Dinghy Championship at Brown next weekend—the first step in the qualifying process for the ICSA Coed Dinghy National Championships.

Women's Sailing

The top-ranked women's team, meanwhile, took home the President's Trophy with a 49-point margin this weekend. Competing against 16 other schools on the Charles River, the Bulldogs triumphed thanks to star performances by some athletes. Skipper Emily Billing ’13 and crew Amanda Salvesen ’14 won B division by 48 points, emerging victorious in all but one of their 12 races. The team races on the Thames River in New London next weekend—the last regatta before the New England Championships. 

Men's Golf

It was an impressive weekend for the Bulldogs at the Yale Spring Opener on Saturday. The men's golf team finished second overall with a score of 592—the best finish of any Ivy League team. The team was six strokes ahead of Princeton, eight strokes ahead of Penn, and 11 strokes better than Columbia. Next up for the Bulldogs: the Princeton Invitational this Saturday.

Women's Track and Field

In one of their first meets of the outdoor season, the women's track and field team saw some promising results. Among the high points of the Sam Howell Invitational: three Elis competing in the 1,500-meter run had the best performances of their collegiate careers on Saturday. Emily Urciuoli ’14 claimed fourth place in the pole vault for her winning height of 3.40m — earning the highest placement of any Yalie on the second day of the meet.

Men's Track and Field

The men's team also brought several strong performances to the Sam Howell Invitational this weekend. Eight Elis earned top-10 finishes at the meet, with James Shirvell ’13 finishing eighth in the 800-meter for his time of 1:52.31. Shirvell was just seconds slower than the team's best time during the indoor season. Next weekend, the Bulldogs host the Harvard Crimson in an annual rivalry meet.

Men's Tennis

The No. 54 Bulldogs' Ivy opener against No. 51 Princeton this Saturday ended in disappointment for the team, which lost with a score of 5–2. But Yale (15–4, 1–1 Ivy) bounced back when it swept Penn the next day. The Bulldogs take on No. 48 Cornell and No. 40 Columbia this week.

Baseball

With Ivy League play in full swing, the Bulldogs added two wins and three losses to their conference record last week. The baseball team (6–18, 3–5 Ivy) beat Cornell 4–2 and Penn 1–0, but lost to Columbia 2–1 and 5–1 and also fell to Penn 5–1. Despite the mixed Ivy record, the Bulldogs won both of their nonconference games last week: the first against Sacred Heart, with a score of 5–3, and the second against UConn, with a score of 15–5.

Women's Lacrosse

As one of the low points in a season that has been characterized by mixed results so far, the women's lacrosse team (6–5, 0–4 Ivy) fell 14–9 to No. 18 Princeton. Despite the lackluster performance, some Elis posted strong performance, with midfielder Nicole Daniggelis ’16 leading Yale with five points and five draw controls. Conference play for the Bulldogs continues with a game against Columbia this Saturday.

Softball

After a promising start to conference play that left the Bulldogs with a 3–1 Ivy record last week, six straight losses between Wednesday and Saturday leave the Bulldogs with three times more losses than victories. The softball team (7–21, 3–5 Ivy) fell 12–7 and 10–2 to Bryant, 7–0 and 9–0 to Penn and 2–1 and 7–2 to Columbia. The coming week will hopefully allow the Bulldogs to rest up before competing against Harvard in four games on Saturday and Sunday.