W. Tennis has mixed results at Easterns

If you're a Penn women's tennis fan, a seat at Princeton's Lenz Tennis Center would have carried you on a three-day trip on an emotional roller coaster as the Quakers rolled through this weekend's Eastern Collegiates on a track fraught with jubilation and disappointment. Perched on the highest hill was the doubles tandem of junior Barrie Bernstein and sophomore Preety Sorathia, who came from behind to defeat Princeton's Melissa Ruben and Bridget Mikysa 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the finals of the Flight A doubles tournament. Already down a set and trailing 4-3 in the second, Bernstein and Sorathia were on the brink of elimination when they did a little soul-searching. "We were both a little frustrated at that point," Bernstein said. "We just told each other to stay confident and maintain a good attitude." Sorathia then held serve for the only time in the match as the duo came thundering back to take the next three games and six of eight in the final set to capture the championship. For Bernstein, the excitement didn't end in the doubles bracket. Seeded No. 1 in Flight A singles, she had a legitimate shot at sweeping the doubles and singles titles in the tournament's toughest bracket. Bernstein's bid for a second tournament title, however, was halted when she ran into Syracuse's Sara Dickson in the semifinals and was forced out in a 7-5, 6-4 nailbiter. "I was a little disappointed because I didn't play as well as I could have," Bernstein said. "I wasn't consistently executing my shots, especially at the net which is a big part of my game." Bernstein's disappointment, however, was minor compared to that of senior co-captains Leanne Mos and Suejin Kim. Mos and Kim were seeded No. 1 in Flight B doubles and in search of their third-consecutive Eastern Collegiate doubles title when they stumbled out of the gate and were upset by Brown's Michelle Kupka and Maryann Kransberg 6-4, 6-3 in the first round. "Usually we have a couple of easy matches in the first couple of rounds," Kim said. "This year Brown kind of caught us by surprise. It took us a little while to get warmed up." "It was an early-season match and they just didn't play well," Penn coach Cissie Leary said. "The team from Brown was just a little more aggressive." Kim felt that Brown could afford to play loose and aggressive because they were supposed to lose while the pressure of a No. 1 seeding made she and Mos play tight. "There's more pressure being seeded No. 1 because everyone's gunning for you and they really have nothing to lose," Kim said. "I'd much rather have been seeded second or third so we could just relax and play our game." Kim's heartbreak didn't end there, however. In her three-hour quarterfinal singles match, the sixth-seeded Kim rallied to even from a 4-0 third set deficit, only to be ultimately defeated 7-5. "That [the quarterfinal loss] didn't bother me that much because I really felt I played well," Kim said. In another notable success, junior Cori Sibley advanced to the finals of Flight C singles before being derailed in straight sets 6-3, 6-2 by Sheila Consadine of Princeton in what Leary termed "a tough match." Sophomore Beth Brady and freshman Adrienne Supino, playing together for the first time, reached the semifinals of Flight C doubles before bowing out to a team from Seton Hall. Supino was replacing fellow freshman Akiko Takuda who was sidelined with a hamstring injury. "They played real well considering it was their first time together," Leary said. When the weekend ride was finally over, Leary was exhausted yet optimistic. The peaks seemed to outnumber the valleys. "We can definitely still improve," Leary said. "But I'm pleased with the way we played this weekend. People know we can play."

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