W. Tennis captures first-ever Ivy crown

Mission accomplished. Inspired by its goal of capturing the Ivy League championship, the Penn women's tennis team concluded its season-long dominance in gallant triumph with an emphatic 7-0 victory over Columbia yesterday. A 6-1 victory at Cornell on Friday gave the Quakers at least a share of the conference title. It was yesterday's win, however, that rendered the Quakers (16-7 overall, 7-0 Ivy League) the outright Ancient Eight victors. The triumph over the Lions sealed Penn's first Ivy League championship in team history and concluded an undefeated Ancient Eight campaign. Conquering the Lions, the redoubtable Quakers won all 10 matches against Columbia, including sweeps in both singles and doubles. "We played today like we did all season -- determined, focused and confident," Penn coach Michael Dowd said. "First in all the doubles and then in number one through six singles, we didn't play any lose points or games." "It was a total team victory." The title-clinching victory began with a trio of Penn doubles victories that wowed the packed stands at Lott Courts. Rochelle Raiss teamed with Rachel Shweky at No. 1 doubles to defeat Leena Krishnaswamy and Melissa Nguyen, kicking off the match with an 8-5 win. The freshmen duo at No. 2 doubles of Sanela Kunovac and Nicole Ptak followed that up with an 8-2 triumph of their own over Columbia's Joyce Chang and Ilene Weintraub. No. 3 doubles Louani Bascara and Shubha Srinivasan completed the sweep, overpowering their Lions' foes Shelly Mittal and Laila Shetty, 8-5. With the doubles point registered in the Quakers favor, the Red and Blue stood three singles victories away from the title. No. 2 singles Srinivasan made quick work of her opponent, Mittal, in a decisive 6-1, 6-0 demolition, giving the Quakers their first singles point. "It felt so great to be the first one off the court," Srinivasan said. "This was my final home match and it was great to be able to win in front of my parents." With Srinivasan's victory in hand, Penn stood two victories from Ivy League supremacy. Shortly after Srinivasan's triumph, No. 6 singles Shweky completed a whitewash of her own in a 6-1, 6-0 thrashing of Columbia's Weintraub. One more win to go. It would be Kunovac at No. 1 who would seal the deal for the Quakers. In utterly dominant fashion, the freshman gem defeated Shetty, 6-0, 6-2. Coming off the court following her victory, an exuberant Kunovac could hardly contain her emotions. "I hope we can only get better and better," Kunovac said. "We have three more years to improve, but it's going to be tough to follow up this one." Completing the shutout, No. 3 Ptak, No. 4 Bascara and No. 5 Sloat each won their matches in straight sets. With the victories, Bascara and Sloat each completed Ivy League play with undefeated 7-0 records in singles competition. For Sloat, it was her second consecutive season accomplishing such a feat. "It wasn't easy," Sloat said commenting on her final regular season triumph. "I just played hard, worked through my mistakes and was able to defeat my opponent." Accompanying the Quakers first Ivy League title is an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament. While the pairings will not be announced until May 3, Dowd believes that the Red and Blue will draw an 11 seed. The anticipated seeding would give Penn a first round matchup against the region's No. 6 team, setting up a showdown with one of the nation's top 30 ranked teams. Despite the fact that the Quakers would stand as considerable underdogs, Dowd is confident in his team's ability to compete. "If we play with the confidence that we showed in the Ivy League, we can definitely do something," he said. For now, however, the Ivy League champs are focused on enjoying the title. "There are no words to describe this feeling," Srinivasan said. "It's the greatest ever."

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