Tennis teams crush opponents all over nation

Women trounce five in California tournament Led by victories from senior co-captain Suejin Kim and the first doubles team of junior Barrie Bernstein and sophomore Preety Sorathia in their opening match against Loyola-Marymount, the Penn women's tennis team rolled to an unblemished record at its California spring tournament. Never in the last four years have the Quakers come out of California undefeated. This season Penn played to a different drum by blowing out its five opponents. The Quakers' closest matches were 7-2 maulings of Marymount, Cal. St. Northridge and UC Irvine. The trip was capped off in by sweeping Long Beach State 9-0. The first doubles team was the highlight of the trip, going undefeated versus five opponents. The duo of Bernstein and Sorathia won four matches, while Kim and senior co-captain Leanne Mos paired up to defeat Cal. St. Fullerton, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. Mos, at first singles, bounced back after losing her first two matches to end up with a 3-2 record. Kim finished 3-2 as well. Penn's victory was attributed to its depth. The success at California is important because it will bring confidence to the Quakers when they travel to Princeton today. The Tigers boast a senior-dominated team, as well as the momentum after defeating Penn last year 6-3. This is where the upperclassmen need to step up. "Because I'm a senior, the last few Ivy matches are very important to me," Mos said. "I'm very familiar with their team, so knowing ahead of time is good for me. I lost earlier in the year at the Princeton Invitational, but I want to build off of that." Penn has been out of action for two weeks. But coach Cissie Leary isn't worried about a letdown. She said the team knows when it has to practice, it knows when it has to step up. After all, this is the first league match of the year. "We played well [in California]. I'm psyched, we never did that well out there," Leary said. "Our spring will be tough, we have a very difficult road schedule. It's a hard way to start off the season, but we definitely have a chance to win the match. [Princeton] is a senior-oriented team and it's tough to play away. But we're going to be ready." As the Quakers go into Princeton today, they're carrying the momentum of their unprecedented sweep in California. Penn will counter the Tigers' experience with its depth. But the Ivy League is anything but a vacation. And now that league play begins, the coach is just as motivated as her players. "I'm very proud of them. Now we're in an upbeat mood. I'm very positive," Leary said. "But definitely, it's going to be a war."