W. Tennis falls short of goals

Last year, Barrie Bernstein and Preety Sorathia won Eastern Collegiate women's tennis flight 1 doubles. So when they returned to the sight of last season's victory last weekend, they expected nothing less than a repeat performance. They were quickly disappointed. Bernstein and Sorathia suffered a frustrating loss to the top-ranked tandem from Boston University, Heidi Steiber and Kerry Stakem, in the semifinals. Bernstein and Sorathia appeared to be on their way to a victory after taking the first set 6-4. However, the Terrier combo turned it around and gave up only five games in the next two sets to win the match, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. "It was a tough three-set match," Sorathia said. "We started missing a lot of shots that we normally would have made. We played very up and down and just couldn't stay consistent." In flight 1 singles competition, Bernstein again lost to Steiber and Sorathia lost to Stakem. In the finals of flight 1 singles, Steiber swept her teammate, 7-5, 6-1. "I had a terrible match," Bernstein said. "I rushed myself through the whole match and let her dictate. At one point, I saw myself down 5-0 and came back to make it 5-3. I put up a good fight at the end, but I should have done that at the beginning." The last four times Bernstein had faced Steiber she won, which made this confrontation even more disappointing. Although Penn and Boston University do not meet during the season for a team match, they will see each other again at the Brown Invitational Tournament October 7, and Bernstein will be ready. "I am looking forward to a rematch," Bernstein said. "I'm going to change my strategy, and hopefully I'll come out on top next time." Senior co-captain Cori Sibley also lost to BU in the semifinals of flight 2 singles, while freshman Lara Afanassiev was defeated in the second round by Yale's Tina Ansari. In flight 3 competition, sophomore Adrienne Supino made it to the quarterfinals and freshman Andrea Grossman, who had a bye in the first round, lost in three sets to Colgate's Ali Desano in the second round. Afanassiev joined freshman Kathy Charneco for a close match against Colgate in flight 2 doubles. They were down 5-1 in the first set but managed to come back to make it 5-4, before losing the last game of the set. The Quakers saw themselves up 5-3 in the second set, but lost the next four games. "We started playing more tentatively," Afanassiev said. "I think we were too confident. We let up a little and they just came back into it." Afanassiev added that her match was "frustrating." After winning the tournament last year but lacking a repeat performance this time around, Bernstein and Sorathia would have to agree.