W. Tennis will play without captains

It is impossible to reach the pinnacle of the Ivy League while standing idly by on the sidelines. If the Penn women's tennis team is going to become the number one team in the Ivy League, as many predict, they must compete against the very best. The Quakers charge into Happy Valley today for this weekend's Penn State Invitational with a full head of steam looking to gain some valuable match experience that will push them further along on their quest to capture the Ivy League title. "Our goal right now is to get as many matches as we can for everyone," Penn coach Michael Dowd said. "We need the experience of playing tough competition. We want to get continually better so that by April we will be primed and ready to challenge for the Ivy League title." If stiff competition is what Dowd is looking for, he should find no shortage of it among the host of highly ranked teams slated to play the Penn State Invitational, which runs through Sunday. Regional forces Virginia Commonwealth, West Virginia, Old Dominion and New Mexico highlight the impressive list of teams competing this weekend. With the team's three senior captains -- Karen Ridley, Brooke Herman and Julia Feldman -- absent this weekend, there is a void that needs to be filled on the team. "It is an opportunity for everyone to prove themselves," said Dowd, who is hoping to sure up his starting lineup for the rest of the season. The unique format of the tournament will give all the players an ample opportunity to showcase their talent. It is a flighted tournament which means that the players are broken down into four division -- A through D. The tournament is also double-elimination, which gives everyone more match experience that will prove to be invaluable later in the year. "It is a very good tournament because you will probably end up playing against people you will face later on in the Ivy League season due to the format," senior Corin Esterowitz said. "The double elimination also guarantees you at least two singles and two doubles matches, which is great." The players with the most to gain from this weekend's tournament are clearly the freshmen. It will serve a a barometer of how much they have developed after a few weeks of practice. "We are giving the freshmen a chance to test their skills against pretty tough competition," Penn No. 1 singles player Anastasia Pozdniakova said. Pozdniakova won last weekend's Cissie Leary Invitational and is looking to capture the Flight A title. This is the last tournament that all six freshmen -- Louani Bascara, Carla Dorsey, Jaya Kirtane, Jolene Sloat, Justyna Wojas and Jennifer Yeh -- will be participating in this season. Although playing freshmen is rare, a strong performance by any one of these six players at the Penn State Invitational could thrust them into the starting lineup. "For any freshman to come in and start with the experience that we have would be unbelievable," Dowd said. "But I can see one, maybe two starting." The Quakers are looking for the Penn State Invitational to pull them closer together as a team so that they will be armed and ready to attack the rest of the season with total confidence. Everyone believes that this weekend will prove to be another building block toward the Ivy League title that hopefully awaits them at the end of the road.