Harvard topples W. Tennis

Penn junior Brooke Herman, however, had a perfect 4-0 weekend. To be the best, you have to beat the best. The Penn women's tennis team, one of the Ivy League's best, traveled to perennial conference power Harvard Friday with the goal of becoming the best. The Crimson (12-6, 2-0 Ivy League), however, showed why they always seem to stand atop the Ivy standings by defeating the Quakers 6-3. The win places the Crimson in a strong position to capture their 12th Ivy League title, 10 more than any other school. Penn (12-7, 3-2) redeemed itself Saturday with a tough 6-3 win at Dartmouth. But the 1-1 weekend effort puts the elusive conference title out of reach. The Quakers have never won the Ivy League title in women's tennis since its inception in 1983. Penn's best finish was second place in 1996, when the Quakers went 6-1, one game back of Harvard. "I feel like they were both winnable matches," sophomore Elana Gold said. "I was happy about the way we played both days, though we couldn't quite get it done on Friday." The Quakers faced a Harvard team that made it to the NCAA East Regional Final last year. The Crimson are currently ranked 26th in the nation. Still, the Quakers nearly pulled off the upset, losing two three-setters in singles play and two very close doubles matches. The singles losses came at No. 2, where senior Lara Afanassiev lost 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 to senior Gabriela Hricko, and at No. 6, where freshman Shubha Srinivasan was defeated by sophomore Sinead Walsh 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. Penn No. 1 doubles team sophomore Anastasia Pozdniakova and junior Julia Feldman lost 8-6, and No. 2 doubles team Afanassiev and freshman Rina Borromeo lost a 9-8 heartbreaker, 8-6 in the tiebreaker. The Quakers did not come up short in all of their matches. One of the three points for Penn came from Feldman at No. 3 singles when she defeated Harvard sophomore Vedica Jain 6-1, 6-3. "I played a good match," Feldman said. "I was really impressed with Brooke, though. She played great the whole weekend." Feldman was referring to Penn junior Brooke Herman, who won her No. 4 singles match 6-2, 6-0 over Crimson freshman Sanaz Ghazal. Herman also paired with Gold to win her doubles match, 8-5, over Ghazal and senior Julia Kim. "I was disappointed with my singles play but really happy about the doubles," Gold said. "Brooke and I are still undefeated this year, and that's made it a lot of fun." Knowing that the conference title was out of reach, the Quakers had to put the loss behind them and rebound the next day against Dartmouth. Penn showed no lack of motivation, however, while taking out its frustrations on the Big Green. Last year, Dartmouth didn't lose a single match on its home courts. But the location didn't seem to matter to the Quakers -- Penn ignored a boisterous crowd and won perhaps its most impressive match of the season. The singles wins came from No. 1 sophomore Pozdniakova, No. 2 Afanassiev, No. 3 Feldman, No. 4 Herman and No. 6 Srinivasan. Herman completed a 4-0 weekend in winning her doubles match with Gold. The Quakers fell out of contention Friday, but they showed Saturday that they consider their season far from over. Penn still has conference matches against Yale and Brown, and is looking to finish as high as possible in the standings. "It was our last road trip of the year, and we had a really good time," Gold said. "This team really loves each other, and I'm just happy that we were able to spend some more time together." Title hopes for Penn were destroyed this weekend, but the Quakers' motivation remains intact.