W. Tennis wins one for Leary

Penn's Anastasia Podzniakova won the singles draw at the Cissie Leary Invitational last Sunday. Anastasia Pozdniakova led the Penn women's tennis team in honoring a former coach with stellar tournament play last weekend. The junior standout dropped only one set in capturing the singles portion of the second annual Cissie Leary Invitational, held at the Lott courts at Penn. The tournament was organized in memory of Leary, who coached the Quakers from 1976 to 1996. She died of cancer in November 1996. After the second-seeded Pozdniakova overcame her finals opponent, top-seeded Cynthia Tow of Boston College, 6-4 6-1, she immediately dedicated her victory to the former coach. Penn made a powerful showing across the draw, as the doubles team of Brooke Herman and Elana Gold reached the semifinals, where they fell in a close match to eventual champions Princeton. Herman, a senior tri-captain, also won the singles consolation draw Karen Ridley, who, along with fellow seniors Julia Feldman, Herman and Corin Esterowitz, was a member of the last team to play a full season with Leary as coach, and said her former coach was a driving force behind the team's efforts. "We wanted to do it for our team, for the school and for Cissie. She was such a great woman," Ridley said. Ridley and Feldman, who reached the doubles consolation final, both were impressed with Penn's performance. "We did a lot better than we did last year," Ridley said. "There were a lot of really tough matches, a lot of three-setters. "Mentally and physically, the tournament will help us over the rest of the season. We all played a lot of tennis." Herman said that there were many factors contributing to the Quakers' success. "We were hosting; we wanted to start our season on a good note; and also, for Cissie." she said. The players also saluted head coach Michael Dowd, assistant coach Whitney Springstead and volunteer coach Bob Levy for their tremendous commitment in creating a well-run tournament. "They did a really great job. They spent a lot of time to put on the tournament," Ridley said. In addition to the full days of tennis, the weekend also included a welcoming banquet for the players on Friday. The draw included players from many of the top schools in the Northeast, including Ivy rivals Princeton, Cornell, Yale and Dartmouth. The fall tournament season, which is highlighted by the ECAC championships October 16-18, is a prelude to the spring head-to-head matches. Penn has its sights set on an Ivy League title. "We have the deepest team in the league," Herman said. "We've been working hard in practice and we're becoming more confident." Harvard and Princeton, the only two squads in the Ancient Eight to defeat Penn last season, are again expected to provide the biggest challenges.