W. Tennis frosh are bigtime at six-team ECAC tournament

Quakers Shubha Srinivasan and Rena Borromeo won three matches before facing each other in the finals Successful. If one could only use a single word to describe the play of the freshmen on the Penn women's tennis team last weekend, it would definitely be successful. At the Penn State Lady Lion Invitational, Quakers freshmen Shubha Srinivasan and Rena Borromeo each walked all over three singles opponents -- the two did not lose one set between them before meeting each other in the finals of their Flight B section. About 60 representatives from six teams were split into four brackets, or flights, A through D. Both women played extremely well over the three-day tournament, which culminated with Srinivasan defeating teammate Borromeo in an all-Quakers final, 6-0, 6-1. With their success in this tournament, Srinivasan upped her fall singles record to 9-1, while Borromeo improved to 7-1. "I was nervous in my first match, but I got better rhythm and more confidence as I went along," Srinivasan said. She also spoke highly of Borromeo, "The [final] match was a lot closer than the score showed? every point was a struggle?" In addition to their individual successes, the two freshmen paired with other Quakers in doubles competition. In the Flight A doubles draw, individual runner-up Borromeo combined with sophomore Anastasia Pozdniakova for another two wins before losing, 8-2, in the semifinals to eventual winners Alison Barnett and Pilar Montgomery from Penn State. The Lady Lion Invitational featured many solid players from Penn State, Princeton, Rutgers, Temple and West Virginia, as well as several experienced upperclassmen from the Quakers. When all was said and done, however, it was the freshmen, Borromeo and Srinivasan, who proved to be two of the tournament's rising stars. With their play, these two have shown they are capable of stepping up and becoming potent weapons for the Penn team this season. On a team returning all eight players from a year ago, these young hitters are really making a strong case for being a part of the permanent Quakers line-up. "Our performance was excellent," said coach Michael Dowd, adding that, "although this was just one tournament, I am very pleased with [Srinivasan's and Borromeo's] efforts." Youth was the overriding theme for the Quakers team at Penn State, as a third underclassman had another excellent tournament. In the Flight A bracket, Quakers No. 1 player Pozdniakova won her singles bracket in convincing fashion. Pozdniakova defeated Princeton's Olivia Streatfield, 6-4, 6-0, in Sunday's final to improve her fall singles record to 11-1. With her second tournament victory already this year, Pozdniakova has clearly established herself as a dominant force in the Ivy League. In addition to the strong showings by the three underclassmen, all four additional Penn singles players and three of the four Quakers doubles teams managed one or more wins apiece. Penn sophomore Elana Gold, carrying over her strong performance from the Cissie Leary Invitational, had another comeback, three-set victory before falling to Borromeo in the Flight B semifinals. Bouncing back from an opening round loss to West Virginia's Ellie Earles, Penn junior Julia Feldman defeated the Scarlet Knights' Karla Porter with a 6-1, 7-5 decision in the second round consolation bracket. Later in the Lady Lion Invitational, Gold and Feldman teamed to pick up a big victory over the Princeton No. 1 doubles team, 9-7. They went on to win their second match in Flight A doubles action before falling short in the third round to Rutgers, 8-4. In Flight B doubles, Penn juniors Karen Ridley and Corin Esterowitz advanced to the second round with an 8-4 win over West Virginia before losing, 8-2, to the Penn State second team.