W. Tennis faces Cornell in season finale

For a chance at the Ivy League title, the Quakers must beat the Big Red and hope for a Harvard loss. This Sunday, the Penn women's tennis team will play its final dual match of the season. A season which could have -- and almost did -- finish flawlessly, but will nonetheless go down as one of the best in history. A heartbreaking 8-1 loss to rival Harvard last weekend narrowly prevented the Quakers from polishing off an undefeated year and grabbing their first ever Ivy title. But all is not lost for the Quakers. The team remains focused on its final match against Cornell (8-7, 1-4 Ivy League) and on ending the year as strong as it started. Despite the disappointment of dropping their first match of the spring season, the Quakers (16-1, 5-1) are eager to meet their last opponent. "We still have one more match to play," senior tri-captain Brooke Herman said. "And Cornell is not a walk-over by any means. We have to put this behind us and have a good week of practice. Hopefully, we'll have a great match and end our season on a good note." The No. 49 Red and Blue do feel confident in their chances against the Big Red, given Penn's 7-2 victory last year and Cornell's quality of play this season -- the Big Red were blanked by both Dartmouth and Yale this season. "Obviously no one views them as a Harvard or Dartmouth," fellow senior tri-captain Julia Feldman said. "But they have some tough players, and they took some matches to three sets against Ivy teams. We just have to go out there and play to win. And it is our last one, so we have to go for it." For Penn's four seniors, this last match will not only close out the season but also their collegiate careers. Sunday's match will be all the more important for them and they will no doubt be concentrating on getting this last win. "We want to use this [loss to Harvard] to fuel our fire and go out there and stomp Cornell," senior tri-captain Karen Ridley said. "We'll just try and take our aggression out on them." Regardless of the outcome, the match will be bittersweet for the three senior tri-captains as well as for senior teammate Corin Esterowitz. "I don't like to think about it and I don't think we really know how to feel about it yet," Feldman said. "It will really hit me after this weekend, when I realize there is no more practice and that's it but right now it's just really weird for us. We are all sad but it has been a great four years, and I have no regrets. I know that it is coming to an end and I want it to end well." Penn coach Michael Dowd echoed the feelings of his players, insisting the emphasis has to be on the match at hand rather than the past or future. "We have three seniors who are going to go out there and play with emotion this Sunday, and I think we want to go out with a bang," Dowd said. "This match is the only thing we will be thinking of and if we come ready to play we are going to win." Even with the Quakers' loss to Harvard, their hopes of an Ivy League title are not completely dashed. Penn plays its last match of the season this weekend but the Crimson still have three tough conference opponents to face. If they lose to either Brown, Yale or Dartmouth -- and the Red and Blue defeat Cornell -- Penn will be Ivy co-champions. Although that is not what the Quakers had in mind at the start of the season, it would certainly be a welcome change to finish at the top of the Ivy leaderboard. For now, though, the Quakers must concentrate on their own match. "Anything can happen -- Harvard can lose -- but it is out of our control," Dowd said. "The only thing we can control is this weekend at Cornell and that's where we have to focus."