W. Tennis falls to midterms

If all had gone according to schedule, Penn sophomore Preety Sorathia never would have pulled out a three-set upset victory Friday over Cornell's Jigisha Pathakji at the Princeton Invitational. She would never have even taken the court for her singles match. Sorathia, the Quakers' No. 3 singles player, was a late replacement for junior No. 1 singles player and No. 6 seed Barrie Bernstein, who missed the trip because of midterms. She took full advantage of the opportunity, responding with a solid 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 victory over Pathakji, last fall's ECAC champion in No. 2 singles. "It was a tough match," Sorathia said. "Jigisha is kind of an annoying person to play. She doesn't do anything special, but she's quick and she gets to a lot of balls which makes for a long match. I served extremely well, so I won a lot of cheap points that way. I think the difference was that I played more aggressively." In the second round, Sorathia was victimized by the draw as she was paired against the No. 4 seed, George Washington's Lisa Chaffron. Chaffron set down Sorathia in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1. "I just couldn't break her serve in the first set," Sorathia said. "In the second, I just made too many mistakes, and she hit some great shots." In other singles action, senior co-captain Leanne Mos made an early exit with first-round losses in both the championship and consolation rounds. "My first match I think I really expected to win," Mos said. "I ended up losing because my opponent really picked up her game in the third set. The second match I just didn't play well. I was terrible." Mos's performance improved on the doubles side as she and senior co-captain Suejin Kim filled in for the Quakers' No. 1 tandem of Bernstein and Sorathia, the tournament's No. 4 seed. After a 6-4, 6-2, loss to the No. 2 duo from Princeton in the first round, Mos and Kim snatched a 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 victory from Columbia's No. 1 team in the consolation match. "We were in our first match the whole time," Kim said. "It was just a matter of a few points here and there. Against Columbia, I didn't play too well in the beginning and Leanne sort of picked up the slack. Then it started coming together. We fought off a match point and were able to pull it out. It was good match to get us back in the groove." Kim viewed the tournament as an excellent chance for Mos and her to hone their doubles game before Spring Break. "It was good match experience," Kim said. "At least for doubles, Villanova and Rutgers weren't very strong teams, so this was more of a task for us." Penn coach Cissie Leary felt all three of her players had a successful weekend. "I was pleased," Leary said. "For us to take those guys to Princeton and get any wins at all was great. Everyone was playing a step up from their normal level. Essentially, it was a good early tournament to get some matches before Spring Break."