W. Tennis serves unexpected split

Expect the unexpected. This is the advice that should have been given to the Penn women's tennis team going into this weekend's home matches against Syracuse and Cornell. Penn had been on a roll under the leadership of red hot junior Barrie Bernstein. The Orangemen were ranked second in the East region, boasting the top two singles players. Also, no Quaker had ever lost to the Big Red -- it had been five years since Penn had fallen to their Ivy foe. So it was obvious, Penn was guaranteed a victory against Cornell, and would lose to Syracuse, right? Wrong. At the beginning of the match against Syracuse, everything seemed to be holding true to form. Although the third doubles team of junior Cori Sibley and sophomore Beth Brady had prevailed 8-2, the second doubles team of senior co-captains Leanne Mos and Suejin Kim had been defeated 8-4. Meanwhile, the first doubles team of Bernstein and sophomore Pretty Sorathia was struggling, and eventually fell 8-5. So going into the singles matches, the Quakers were already trailing 1-0. Yet again, everything was going according to plan. Bernstein lost to Erica O'Neill, and Mos also fell. But then the unexpected happened. Penn's last four singles players all prevailed, resulting in a 4-3 Quaker victory. Just as it was on the California road trip, the Quakers' depth came through, and took over the match. "We didn't expect to do that well versus Syracuse because they're No. 2 in the East," Mos said. "If anything, we thought we would win the doubles matches, but it was just a good day for everyone." The unusual weekend continued as Penn fell to the Big Red Saturday. The Quakers went into the match with a positive attitude because not only had they just upset the Orangemen, but they wanted to pick up their first Ivy victory after losing to Princeton in their only other league match. But again, Bernstein dropped her doubles and singles matches, and Mos lost her singles match. This resulted in a 4-3 score again, but this time Penn was on the short end. "[Barrie] had a tough weekend," Penn coach Cissie Leary said, "It was just that she was never out of any of her matches." Brady, at sixth singles, has been catching fire. She is undefeated in her last eight matches. She has four doubles and four singles victories. During her doubles match versus Syracuse, spectators began commenting that, "Beth has no idea how she is playing so well." Although the Quakers got a pleasant surprise by defeating Syracuse, they have their work cut out for them after dropping their second Ivy match. Despite the loss, Penn still seems to have a positive feeling because it knows it has to win. "I don't think the loss to Cornell will get us down," Mos said. "I think it will motivate us instead."