W. Tennis knocks off Tigers for third straight year

After destroying Princeton over the weekend, Penn has set a high precedent for the rest of the spring. If Friday's match against Princeton is any indication of the Penn women's tennis team's future performance, the remaining Ivy League competitors have good reason to feel threatened. In their first Ivy League match of the season, the Quakers crushed the Tigers by a score of 7-2, and they do not plan to end their winning streak there. "We were very excited," Penn coach Michael Dowd said. "Our adrenaline was running. It was the start of the Ivy League season. I felt we were pumped to play, and we came out on fire." In singles competition, the Quakers could not have asked for more, as they swept all six matches. Even more impressive than these six victories is that all, but one, were won in two sets, meaning Penn only lost one set out of the 13 that were played. Penn's only weakness Princeton was able to take advantage of during the day was in the doubles competition. Although the two wins the Tigers secured were of little help to them. Prior to meeting Princeton, Dowd saw a need to rearrange the doubles lineup to see what would be the best possible combinations for the season. "We may not have had the chemistry we're looking for before," Dowd said. "We mixed up the doubles hoping it might light a spark." The usual six players remained in the doubles matches. Changes were only made to their position in the lineup. With these alterations made, the one team to come out on top was that of senior co-captain Lara Afanassiev and sophomore Karen Ridley by a score of 8-1. In response to these results, Dowd is planning to emphasize doubles competition throughout all of this week's training. Coming into the match, the Quakers had the security of knowing they defeated the Tigers in the past two years. However, they also recognized that Princeton brought in a strong freshman class, posing a potential threat to them. Overcoming a solid team such as that of the Tigers is a tremendous source of encouragement for Penn. "It gave us a lot of confidence," Dowd said. "I think it will carry over through the season. We are starting to peak, and we're peaking at the right time." The Quakers will travel to New York on Friday to play Syracuse in their last non-Ivy League match of the season. After that, Penn's focus will be solely on successfully meeting the challenges of the remaining six Ivy League schools.