Undefeated W. Tennis overpowers Nittany Lions once again

The women's tennis teams of Penn State and Not Penn State battled for bragging rights Saturday at Happy Valley. The Quakers continued their dominance of the "Aren't they both state schools?" rivalry and came away victorious, 6-3, to improve their undefeated season record to 9-0. Women's tennis coach Michael Dowd may have had something to do with pushing the Quakers to win. Dowd sent an e-mail of encouragement to everyone on the team the night before the non-conference matchup, reminding them that the meeting would determine Pennsylvania bragging rights and encouraging them to once again beat up on the Nittany Lions. The Quakers responded with authority, winning five of six singles matches to clinch the victory before doubles even began. Karen Ridley, Anastasia Pozdniakova, Lanka Beranova, Elana Gold and Shubha Srinivasan all recorded wins for the Red and Blue, giving them an insurmountable lead and a chance to cruise through the doubles matchups. Penn captured only one of three doubles matches but that was enough to end the dual match with a 6-3 win. Last season, the Quakers pummeled the Lions 8-1 and 7-2 in their two meetings. "We dominated all the way," said Anastasia Pozdniakova, Penn's No. 1 singles player. "They obviously gave us some competition, but we are going into our matches now with great experience from spring break and some big wins behind us." The junior won her singles match in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4, and teamed with Ridley to capture Penn's only doubles win, 8-6. "I had a few losses behind me, and this is definitely a good win," Pozdniakova said. "She came back to tie it up at five in the first set but I think I was just tougher in the match. I really did not want to lose, and I would not give the match away." "I think we are definitely the better team," said Gold, a junior, who topped her singles opponent 6-1, 6-1. "It was great to close it out in the singles because it makes the rest of the match just kind of fun. It actually gave us a great opportunity to work on our doubles play, which will be so important in those close Ivy matches." The team continued to stress the importance of working on doubles play in the final week before the Ivy season begins against Columbia on March 31. Because of injuries -- most notably to senior tri-captain Brooke Herman --Dowd has been making changes at each match in search of ideal pairs. Senior tri-captain Julia Feldman and Beranova, a sophomore, have formed one of those pairs, playing together for much of the semester. "I think coach Dowd is happy with the way we work as a team," Feldman said. "We have a great dynamic and we're definitely a good combination." Today the Quakers play one of their final two non-conference dual matches, at Rutgers University. Penn is looking for a repeat of last year's 9-0 destruction of the Scarlet Knights. "I feel good about Rutgers," said Ridley, who won her singles match at Penn State in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3. "We are definitely better, but they are kind of a scrappy team. They may not be pretty but they work hard to get to a lot of shots. They might give us a run for our money if we are not prepared and take them too lightly. But I think we should win." The members of the Penn women's tennis team may be in the minority today as they hope for rain. Rutgers' lack of indoor tennis courts means the match will be moved to Penn's Levy Pavilion in case of showers. Even if luck does not go the Quakers' way, they will still play their next five dual matches at home, beginning with Georgetown on March 28 and finishing with Yale on April 10. "The next two matches look very good for us," Gold said. "It's great practice for the Ivies and hopefully it will give us even more confidence to get those matches under our belt."