W. Tennis is still perfect entering Ivy play

The Penn women's tennis team has racked up a perfect 11-0 record this year en route to a No. 51 national ranking that is the highest in school history. Five of those 11 victories have been shutouts -- against Colgate, Temple, Army and, most recently, Rutgers and Georgetown. But strangely, after months of dual-match play, the Quakers are just now getting started. They are finally starting the all-important Ivy season, which begins today against Columbia at the Lott Courts. These seven matches have been the Quakers main goal ever since they finished a disappointing third behind Harvard and Princeton in last year's Ivy championship race. The members of the team have concentrated all of their energy on preparing for the tough Ivy opponents. They have been squarely focused on preventing history from repeating itself in their bid to capture Penn's first Ivy championship. "Of course we want to be ready for every match, and you have to practice for that," Penn coach Michael Dowd said. "But everything is a warm-up for our conference matchups." The Red and Blue fared well against Columbia last season, losing only one doubles and one singles match in a 7-2 victory over the Lions in New York. But Columbia is not Harvard or Princeton; last year they struggled to an 0-7 Ivy League record. "The past couple of years we have dominated them," senior tri-captain Brooke Herman said. "They are definitely a team we should beat convincingly, I think." The team will not take Columbia lightly, however. Every Ivy League match is a must-win if they hope to keep their shot at a league championship alive. In preparation for these Ivy matches, the team members have been working all season long on developing their doubles play -- where they feel the conference meetings will undoubtedly be won and lost. "Ivy matches are always competitive and we can't expect to come out of the singles with a victory," junior Anastasia Pozdniakova said. "They have very strong teams, so the pressure will be on our doubles pairs." "We changed some teams around, so now I'm playing at No. 2 doubles with Anastasia," Herman said. "We realize how important doubles are and I think our play has come along really well. We just need to stay focused." In the doubles matches, Louani Bascara and tri-captain Julia Feldman will compose the No. 1 pair, Pozdniakova and Herman will play at No. 2 and senior tri-captain Karen Ridley will pair with junior Elana Gold at the No. 3 spot. The Quakers are relieved to be facing Columbia in their first Ivy match, rather than a tougher competitor like Princeton, which Penn played to begin last season. "I think it's good to play Columbia first just to get an Ivy match under our belt," Herman said. "There's a different kind of pressure and a different vibe against an Ivy team, and it will be good to get our feet wet." Overall, the Quakers feel they have worked hard and accomplished a lot thus far but now it is simply time to play the Ivy matches -- and hope their countless hours of practice pay off. "We have been working the whole season for this and everyone has put in 100 percent effort," Herman said. "Now it's time to relax and go forward. The most important thing is still to remember to just have fun." "I think we are ready and prepared. We have done a lot of work and that's really all we could have done to this point," Pozdniakova said. "We just have to put it to the test and see how we compare against the other Ivy teams."