W. Tennis sweeps 'Nova

The Quakers were neverThe Quakers were neverreally challenged by theThe Quakers were neverreally challenged by therebuilding Wildcats The Penn women's tennis team began its spring season yesterday in outstanding fashion. Hosting Villanova at the Levy Indoor Pavilion, the Quakers proved too strong for the Wildcats, winning 9-0. "We were very solid top to bottom," Penn coach Cissie Leary said. In the only competitive match in the meet, Quakers senior co-captain Preety Sorathia faced stiff competition from Villanova freshman Julie Bonner, who completed the fall season with an 11-2 dual match record. Sorathia was the last singles player left on the courts and was playing for a sweep of the singles matches. Plagued by unforced errors, Preety followed a lengthy back-and-forth first set with a sweep in the second set. Penn freshmen Julia Feldman and Yukie Tokuda handled themselves like seasoned veterans, easily winning their matches. Senior co-captain Beth Brady and sophomores Lara Afanassiev and Andi Grossman also came through with Quakers victories. In fact, those five players were so dominant that their matches were over before Sorathia and Bonner even completed a set. Villanova first-year coach Bob Batman characterized his team as young and inexperienced. Citing the severe lack of recruiting done on the Wildcats part in past years, he noted that Villanova had much work left to do. "Julie Bonner is our foundation for the future," Batman said. But even though the level of competition did not compare to Penn's, Leary was nonetheless thrilled with her team's efforts. Winning all six singles matches and sweeping the three doubles matches, Penn has poised itself for a successful spring. Leary hopes to parlay yesterday's success into a strong Saturday meet against Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights will likely pose a greater challenge to the Quakers, when they visit the Levy Indoor Tennis Pavilion at 1 p.m.