The next stage of the Penn women’s tennis season looks positive as the team pulled off two impressive wins in its three-game road trip to California over break.
Despite dropping their final match, the Quakers showed stunning success in their doubles pairings in each contest.
Against their first opponent Rhode Island on Monday in Palm Springs, the Red and Blue showed no mercy, winning the match 5-2 after gaining early momentum during doubles play.
The duo of senior Stephanie Do and junior Alexandra Ion posted a solid 8-5 victory, followed by senior Jaime Yapp-Shing and sophomore Sonya Latycheva winning 8-4 to secure the 1-0 lead for the Red and Blue.
Penn went on to defeat the Rams (4-7) by winning four singles matches on the backs of freshmen Kana Daniel and Luba Vazhenina, Do and Ion, each of whom won in straight sets.
Facing Gonzaga on Tuesday, Penn came through in similar fashion, defeating the Bulldogs 5-2.
Again the Quakers displayed their dominance by sweeping their opponents in doubles play. Daniel and junior Sol Eskenazi took their match, 8-6, Yapp-Shing and Latycheva won their contest, 8-7, and Do and Ion emphatically capped off Penn’s doubles win with an 8-5 victory.
In singles, Eskenazi, Do, Vazhenina and Ion notched easy wins to give the Red and Blue another four points in the match and ultimately hand the Quakers their second victory of the trip.
But Penn could not maintain its good fortune on Saturday, losing a heartbreakingly close match, 4-3, to UC Irvine.
Penn started out hot, winning the doubles point to give the team an early advantage. The Quakers then captured points at the top two positions with Eskenazi winning, 6-1, 6-4, and Daniel beating her opponent, 6-3, 6-3.
But the Anteaters enacted full vengeance by winning three straight singles points, tying the match at three points apiece.
With one final point up for grabs to decide the match, Vazhenina faced UC Irvine junior Kat Facey. After losing the first set to Vazhenina, 4-6, Facey rebounded by winning the next two sets 6-1, 6-4, to seal the victory for the Anteaters.
Though the loss was disappointing, the Quakers nonetheless feel encouraged by the success of the road trip against three formidable teams.
One important takeaway was Penn’s smooth transition into playing outdoors, which the team will likely have to do several times when it matches up against its Ivy League foes later this season.
But first, the Red and Blue will take on Temple at home on Saturday, March 22.
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