Penn wins, but loses Sorathia

Last weekend, the Penn women's tennis team was looking to avenge two previous losses -- a loss to Maryland earlier in the week and a loss to Cornell in its meeting last year. The Quakers (6-4, 2-0 Ivy League) were able to get their revenge with a 5-2 victory over the Big Red on Friday at the Levy Tennis Pavilion. But Penn could not fully enjoy its victory because of the injury to its co-captain and No. 1 singles player Preety Sorathia. On the last point of her 7-5, 6-4 loss to reigning Ivy League Player of the Year Olga Itskhoki, Sorathia tore her anterior cruciate ligament and will not play against Dartmouth and Harvard this weekend. "We are hoping to rehab it," Quakers coach Cissie Leary said. "She will try to hit balls this weekend, but could be out for the remainder of the season." With Sorathia out, there will be a big shake-up in the lineup. At singles, all of the starters will move up a slot, and the doubles teams will have to be rearranged. "This makes an already young team even younger," Leary said. The Quakers got off to a good start against Cornell (7-1, 0-1) by taking the doubles point by a score of two matches to one. At No. 1 doubles, Penn's team of sophomore Lara Afanassiev and freshman Julia Feldman won, 8-6. But at No. 2 doubles, Quakers co-captains Preety Sorathia and Beth Brady lost, 9-7. For the second-straight Ivy match, the Penn freshmen duo of Karen Ridley and Corin Esterowitz were victorious at No. 3 doubles, 8-6, securing the lone doubles point. The depth of the Penn team once again paid off at singles, as the Quakers were victorious at the No. 3, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 positions. The three freshman -- Ridley, Feldman and Yukie Tokuda -- along with sophomore Andi Grossman all won their matches easily in straight sets with no player giving up more than seven games. "We are a really deep team," Leary said. "And against Cornell we were rock-solid at the bottom of the lineup." Although they were defeated at No. 1 and No. 2 singles by the same score of 7-5, 6-4, Sorathia and Afanassiev both put forth impressive efforts. Both matches lasted more than two hours, even though they were only two sets. Prior to her injury, Sorathia played well and was able to keep close to Itskhoki, who has not lost an Ivy League match in two years. "We played so much better than we did against Maryland," Leary said. "It was like night and day."