Penn passes first test, looks ahead to challenges

Any students up early Saturday morning may have noticed the hollow sounds of tennis balls emanating from the Levy Pavilion. Not unusual in itself perhaps, but anyone venturing in these walls would immediately notice the pristine white skirts of the women playing inside. This, of course, could only mean one thing -- the opening match for this years' edition of the Penn women's tennis team. The high hopes and expectations the team has for the upcoming year began with a sound thrashing of its local rival, Swarthmore. The match served as a mere tune-up for a hungry Quakers squad that clearly has its eyes on bigger things. Quakers coach Cissie Leary was thrilled with what she saw. "This is probably the strongest team I've ever had," she said. "Last year, we did real well, so to say I'm excited is an understatement." The team graduated only one senior, former No. 1 singles player Preety Sorathia. But she was injured for the second half of the year, and the team returns with essentially the same lineup plus what Leary describes as a strong recruiting class. "I'm really excited, and I think we're going to do really well," Penn co-captain Lara Afanassiev said. "We have so much depth. Everyone's a solid player." The youth of the team -- the Quakers have no seniors -- seems to provide the only question mark. Both co-captains, Afanassiev and Andi Grossman, are juniors, and the No. 2 singles player, Anastasi Pozdniakova, is only a freshman. Leary admits that the inexperience of the team could supply some unforeseen bumps down the road, but she remains confident. As for the match itself, there isn't much to tell. For Swarthmore, a small college with a reputation for academic excellence, it was school on Saturday. Clearly on another level, the Quakers dominated every match, taking the 9-0 victory in convincing fashion and teaching their opponents a thing or two about tennis at the same time. In the top three singles matches, the Garnet failed to win a single game, losing each match 6-0, 6-0. Afanassiev, Penn's No. 1 singles player, frustrated and overpowered her opponent seemingly at will. The freshman phenom Pozdniakova had an even easier time, if that's possible, tearing through her opponent so quickly that she had time to catch practically the entire second set of Afanassiev's match. No. 3 singles player Karen Ridley complimented her teammates' performances in kind. The captains were quick to put the victory in perspective. After her match, which she also swept 6-0, 6-0, Grossman underscored the importance of the victory. "It was nice," she said. "We have a really young team and this match was mostly important for some experience, especially for the freshmen." The team's goals for the year reach far higher than annihilating small schools. With a team this strong and this deep, it's never to early to start thinking about the spring season. In the back of each Quakers' mind, they know that the true test of the season is their performance in the Ivy League, and eventually, the Eastern region. Penn finished second in the Ivies last year and sixth in the East and scoffs at any rhetoric that implies it hopes to be merely competitive. Lying in the Penn's path are the feared Crimson of Harvard. Perennially strong, Harvard convincingly pounded these very same Quakers last year. Leary was reluctant to make any predictions. "I think we could be one of the better teams in the East," Leary said. "We ended up sixth last year, but I think we can even do a little better." Perhaps it was the intoxicating exhilaration of a hard-fought victory, or maybe it was just blatant optimism, but the captains of the Penn squad were much more specific than their coach. "I think we can win it," said Afanassiev, referring to the Ivy League championship. When asked about Harvard, the unassuming Grossman gave a slight but perhaps knowing smile. "We can take them."