W. Tennis 'constitutes' unity

For a team with no chemistry majors, the women's tennis team sure knows a lot about bonding. "This team is very unselfish," second-year coach Michael Dowd said. "I don't hear the word 'I' -- I hear the word 'we'." The Quakers will play host to Colgate, Georgetown and Temple Saturday and Sunday at the Penn Invitational as the fall season gets underway. Dowd attributed the strong sense of unity to the leadership of the team's four seniors -- tri-captains Julia Feldman, Brooke Herman and Karen Ridley, and fellow senior Corin Esterowitz (finance, sociology, economics and BBB). "The leaders have really taken this team as their own and they're running it," Dowd said. At the team's meeting yesterday, the seniors introduced a team constitution, which outlines all of the responsibilities and expectations they have for their teammates. "We just thought it'd be fun," said Feldman. "Since it's such a big team we though that [the constitution] would be the best way for everyone to get acquainted with what's happening with the program." Freshman Carla Dorsey said, "It showed me that they were pretty serious about having us be together." Dowd said that acts like drawing up a constitution make his job easier. "It means a lot more coming from [the seniors] than from a coach," Dowd said. Freshman Louani Bascara was struck by the team's unity. "More so than other schools, it really seems to be a tight team," she said. "That helps on and off the court." Up and down the lineup, the Quakers have a solid, experienced base. Graduating only two players from last year's squad, the team is now comprised of four seniors, two juniors, two sophomores and six freshmen. "We have the deepest team in the Ivy League," Dowd said. "We have no weaknesses." Feldman, the Ivy League's Most Improved Player last year, finished with a 6-1 Ivy match record en route to a Second Team All-Ivy selection. Herman posted an 11-1 singles record and played doubles with junior Elana Gold. She was also recognized with a Second Team All-Ivy award. Esterowitz, who has been in and out of the lineup for the past three years, got a vote of confidence from Dowd. "I sense this year she's got some confidence," Dowd said. Junior Anastasia Podzniakova played No. 1 singles last year, where she went 28-11, and will assume that role this year. Dowd expects the upperclassmen to grab the lion's share of the playing time, although all six freshmen are scheduled to play in Penn's opener this weekend. With the balance of "a lot of experience and a lot of youth," according to Dowd, the cohesive Quakers hope to improve on their third-place finish in the Ivy League. Penn finished 5-2 in the Ivy league last year, behind Harvard (7-0) and Princeton (6-1). The Quakers have finished among the top three Ivy schools in each of the past four years -- a feat matched only by Harvard -- and Dowd thinks this is the year Penn finally breaks the ceiling to reach the top spot. "We definitely have the potential," Herman said. "We have a lot of talent and [players that are] match tough." But the Quakers will have to wait until the spring. The fall season consists of seven invitational tournaments, as opposed to the one-on-one, dual-match spring schedule. "[The fall season] gets us good match experience," Herman said. "We see what the competition is like, we travel together and build team unity." Although the tournaments force a more individual-oriented approach, Dowd still sees the fall season as an important warm-up for the Ivy season, especially for the six new recruits. "The first tournament is designed to get [the freshmen's] feet wet," Dowd said. "We need to get them out there as soon as possible, because we may need some of these freshman in the spring. "I want to feel confident they can do it."

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