W. Tennis breezes by Rutgers

All right, this is starting to get a little boring. The women's tennis team continued its stellar play this season by dismantling Rutgers yesterday in New Brunswick, N.J., 9-0. Penn picked up singles victories from Anastasia Pozdniakova, Brooke Herman, Julia Feldman, Louani Bascara, Elana Gold and Shubha Srinivasan en route to the convincing victory. After clinching the match with the singles wins, the Quakers (10-0) did not let up against the Scarlet Knights. The three Red and Blue doubles pairs poured it on as Penn rounded out the sweep. "It was a great start from the beginning," said senior tri-captain Julia Feldman, who captured her singles match 6-2, 6-3. "We came out and just played really well. Everyone was up and breezed through it pretty quickly to win in straight sets." The Quakers truly beat up on the Knights, failing to lose a set in any singles match and taking the three doubles matches 8-3, 8-3 and 8-1. "We definitely were confident going in, and we dominated the entire match," fellow senior tri-captain Brooke Herman said. "It was good for our confidence and gave us a chance to improve our mental toughness." The Quakers also benefitted from the extra doubles practice as they make final preparations for the Ivy season, which begins March 31. "It was great that after we won the match in the singles, we still pushed ourselves to win the doubles because we know how important they will be against Ivy teams," Herman said. "We still need to work on certain things for our doubles." For Herman, the match was especially valuable as it was her first dual match in several weeks. Sidelined by a recurring wrist injury, Herman has seen little action since the team's spring break trip to California. After receiving a cortisone shot and practicing on the wrist in the meantime, Herman returned to Penn's No. 2 spot for the first time yesterday. "My doctor told me if I could practice for a week on it and not feel any pain, and I felt good enough to play, I could go into a match," Herman said. "I wanted to get a couple of matches under my belt before the Ivy season, and [Rutgers was] a good test run." Herman returned not only to singles play, but also teamed with her regular doubles partner, Elana Gold, to grab another win for the Quakers at No. 2 doubles. "It was my first match with Elana in a few weeks and it was just great to be back out there with her again," Herman said. "We still need to practice doubles before the season and it is great for us to win a few." The Quakers began to reap the benefits of their hard work and undefeated record yesterday, rising in the intercollegiate rankings from 68th last week to 51st, the highest for Penn in recent memory. "We have definitely been practicing hard and the rankings reflect the improvement," said freshman Louani Bascara, who won her No. 4 singles match and teamed with Julia Feldman to secure the No. 1 doubles. "I don't think that has been on the minds of the team much though. We're trying to stay focused and motivated for the Ivies." Feldman accounted for the team's success this season by stressing Penn's overall depth and the fact that most of the team has remained in good health. "Everyone has been compensating for and balancing each other really well," Feldman said. "We've started winning those 4-4 matches, and things have finally been going our way." "It's a great feeling to be the [highest-ranked] Ivy, but a lot of those schools are tough," Herman said. "We're just really looking forward to the Ivy season." The Quakers viewed the meeting with Rutgers mainly as a venue to practice in a serious match atmosphere. The lack of tough competition from their opponent also relieved some of the pressure that usually goes along with matches. "They didn't give us much of a challenge and we got the opportunity to practice some things in this match rather than just focusing strictly on winning," said junior Anastasia Pozdniakova, who won the No. 1 singles match, 6-2, 6-3.