Strong doubles play leads Penn to two wins

Quakers split six singlesQuakers split six singlesmatches over weekend, butQuakers split six singlesmatches over weekend, butwin both doubles points The Penn women's tennis players knew their two matches against Yale and Brown last weekend would be the defining point in their season. The matches would determine whether the Quakers would sink to the middle of the pack in the Ivy League or solidify their position as the No. 2 team in the conference behind Harvard. Penn was able to stay near the top of the conference with two 4-3 victories over the Elis and the Bears at the Lott Tennis Courts. "We were fearless," Quakers coach Cissie Leary said. "We played so tough." The match against Yale (6-7, 2-3) was a struggle from beginning to end, with the result in the match in doubt until the last point. In doubles play, the Elis defeated the Quakers (9-5, 5-1 Ivy League) easily at the No. 2 position, but Penn took the doubles point with 9-8 tie-breaker victories by sophomore Lara Afanassiev and freshman Julia Feldman at No. 1 and freshmen Karen Ridley and Corin Esterowitz at No. 3. Penn fell behind in singles play, after Yale's straight set wins at No. 1 and No. 5, while the Quakers only early victory came at No. 3 by Feldman, 6-4, 6-3. The two teams then split two three-set matches with Penn freshman Yukie Tokuda losing 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 and Penn sophomore Andi Grossman winning 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. At that point in the match, the Elis had won three of five singles points and Penn had won the doubles point, which tied the overall match score at 3-3 with the result of the No. 2 singles match still undecided. At No. 2 singles, Ridley had lost a tough first set 7-5 and had won the second set easily 6-2 against Sara Naison-Phillips. The third and final set was close throughout and went to a tiebreaker at 6-6. Ridley got off to a quick start in the breaker and led 6-2. She then lost the next three points and, with the lead cut to 6-5, was in danger of blowing the match. Ridley, though, won the next point to take the tiebreaker 7-5 -- winning the match and giving the Quakers the victory. "The match was very nerve racking," Leary said. "She was tough as nails and came up with a tremendous win." Coming off its biggest victory of the season, Penn was looking to continue its success against the Bears (9-6, 3-2). The tone of the match was again set by the doubles play, in which Afanassiev and Feldman won at No. 1 and co-captain Beth Brady and Tokuda lost at No. 2. Penn was able to take the doubles point when the freshman duo of Ridley and Esterowitz came back from two match points to win in a tiebreaker. "After we won the doubles point, the other coach and I smiled at each other, because we knew it was huge," Leary said. In singles play, the Quakers were led by Feldman and Tokuda at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, who cruised to easy victories. Penn received a match-clinching win at No. 5 by Grossman. The Bears were victorious at the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 6 singles positions, but could not recover from their loss in doubles and fell 4-3. In fact, in both contests, the Quakers split the six singles matches, but were able to win because of their victories at the doubles positions, proving the importance of the often overlooked doubles play.