W. Track gains Big Red revenge

There may be no greater motivator in sports than a chance for revenge. The women's tennis team had their chance and took advantage of it at Levi Pavilion Saturday by defeating Cornell, 7-2. Last spring the Quakers were upset by the Big Red, 5-4, in one of the toughest losses of the season. That defeat was on the Quakers' minds as they took on Cornell. "We had the revenge factor going for us," Penn coach Michael Dowd said. "It was a really hard loss to handle last year. We really talked about that last week." The Quakers (11-6, 2-1 Ivy League) are still in contention for the conference title thanks to wins by all six singles players. The Big Red (7-5, 1-1) did not have enough talent at the top of the lineup to match up with Penn's best players. Sophomore Anastasia Pozdniakova gave a typical effort at the No.1 spot in easily defeating Cornell junior Michelle Degen 6-1, 6-1. Pozdniakova lost an error-filled first game before coming back to win twelve of the next thirteen. "I was actually expecting to play a different girl who usually plays No. 1 for them," Pozdniakova said. "When I found out I was playing (Degen), I felt confident that I would be able to win pretty easily, and that really helped me." The Quakers also received a strong performance from senior Lara Afanassiev at No. 2., who won in efficient fashion, beating Cornell junior Rebecca Cannom 6-2, 6-2. Afanassiev has been filling in for junior Karen Ridley, who is most likely out for the season due to mononucleosis. "I was very happy about the way Lara played," Dowd said. "She played someone she lost to last year but was able to win this match easily." The only Penn singles player who did not win in straight sets was sophomore Elana Gold, who defeated Big Red sophomore Jodie Hurley 6-1, 4-6, 6-0. That was the closest Cornell came to winning a singles point. The Quakers struggled with their doubles play, losing two out of three matches to Cornell. Reliable doubles play has been a concern for Dowd and the Quakers since the beginning of the season. This time, however, the doubles difficulties were overshadowed by the strong singles efforts, including one by freshman Rina Borromeo. Borromeo, who has only recently been playing regularly, won her match against Big Red sophomore Sara Purdy 6-3, 6-1. "She played some very good tennis for us and won easily," Dowd said. The Quakers came out "on fire," according to Dowd. They did not show the lack of mental preparation which served as their downfall last year. Instead, Penn used their desire for revenge very effectively, and Cornell ran into an extremely focused team. In addition, as Pozdniakova said, "it was great to be back on our home courts."