Kunovac ready to reset score

A hotly-contested 3-4 loss against Temple last season encapsulated the frustration of last year’s 3-14 season in a nutshell: even when the Quakers played well, they failed to come out with victories.

This year, however, Penn hopes to avenge its loss against Temple when the two face off at Levy Pavilion at 4 p.m. today.

Last season, Penn was defeated by Temple (1-2) despite winning the doubles point and the top two singles matches. The demoralizing defeat plummeted the Quakers into a 10-match losing skid, as the team continued to lose winnable matches.

“That was how we knew it was going downhill,” sophomore Emily Wolf said.

So what makes the Quakers (2-1) more confident about this season?

The answer is the change at head coach that brought back one of the best players in Penn women’s tennis history, Sanela Kunovac.

“There is a lot more enthusiasm; a lot more dedication from the girls,” Wolf said in regard to how the team has changed under new leadership.

Junior Alexa Ely agreed.

“Sanela’s coaching style is different … the whole team chemistry has changed,” she said.

While Kunovac declined to comment for this article, the Quakers appear to be having much more fun in their practices.

Coach Kunovac ended yesterday’s practice with a baseline game in which the losing team had to run suicides. The team’s intimacy was visible as the players supported each other, cheering loudly for their teammates.

Baseline games and practice sets serve as the backbone of the team’s practices because one of Kunovac’s goals is to prepare the team for matches by playing practice points.

“The most important thing is trying to get us ready for match play,” Ely said.

Gaining match experience is important, not just because the team lost many of its close contests last season, but because the team is very young and has five freshmen. The rookies, however, have handled the transition well thus far.

“We are really impressed with our freshmen … they are really fighters,” Ely explained.

In particular, freshmen Jules Rodin and Charlotte Ezratty will be counted upon to win key matches against Temple.

Ely and Wolf are also slated for important singles matches against the Owls’ Lucie Pazderova and Anastasiia Rukavyshnykova.

The Quakers hope that their new dynamic translates to match play as Temple presents a formidable opponent.

“It is probably going to be our first real challenge … everybody’s going out there and fighting their hardest,” Wolf said.

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