Romanian star to debut for W. Tennis in spring season

The Penn's women's tennis team will add an internationally ranked athlete to its roster this spring. And with probably their most difficult schedule ever, the Quakers sure picked a good time to secure the talents of freshman Alice Pirsu. Pirsu, a member of the Romanian National Cup team, has competed in such prestigious events as the U.S. Open, the French Open and Wimbledon. The Bucharest, Romania, native has been ranked as high as 24th in the junior world rankings and 207th in the WTA rankings. And now, after four years on the ITF/WTA tour, Pirsu will try to storm her way through four years in the Ivy League. Pirsu is eligible to compete in the NCAA because she played in the pro tournaments as an amateur and never made money as a professional. "I think she's going to make a huge impact," senior co-captain Elana Gold said. "I don't think there's anyone that can beat her in the Ivy League." Pirsu will not be eligible to compete for the Quakers until next semester, meaning she will miss the fall season. But the highly-touted freshman has watched from the sidelines since entering Penn last January. Still, Pirsu did not let her tennis game deteriorate while she sat out of competitions, as she awed the rest of the Quakers with her court skills. "When you play her, you think, 'Oh, that's a good shot -- she's not going to get to it,'" sophomore Louani Bascara said. "But she fires it back even harder and closer to the line." Pirsu is expected to step into one of the top two singles spots on the team, where she and three-time first team All-Ivy honoree Anastasia Pozdniakova will give the Quakers possibly the most deadly 1-2 punch in the league. And a 1-2 punch is just what Penn will need with its much-intensified schedule this season. Last year, the Quakers finished with a 19-2 record en route to a No. 46 national ranking, but this year the weaker teams which appeared on Penn's '99 schedule, like Loyola Marymount and Georgetown, have been replaced by the likes of Virginia, Clemson and Fresno State -- not to mention 1999 NCAA Champion Stanford. "We will be tested," coach Michael Dowd said. "We're not going to come away with another 19-2 year. If we do, we'll be in the top 10 in the country." Penn's schedule will include nine teams in the top 65 of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's final rankings from last season. In addition, the Quakers will compete in the prestigious Georgia Invitational in January and the Princeton Invitational in February. But for many of the Quakers, the real season begins on April 1, when Penn plays its first Ivy foe. "[Our schedule] is going to give us a lot of opportunities to get a higher ranking and to be more prepared for the Ivy season," Gold said. "I'd rather go 2-10 in preseason and do better in the Ivies than go 10-2 with a fluffier schedule." Last year, the Quakers finished 6-1 in the Ivy League, losing only to eventual champion Harvard, 8-1. But Penn lost four of its top players to graduation in May. Junior Jill Mazza, a transfer from Rochester, will join Pirsu in trying to offset the losses of the graduated seniors. Mazza, who compiled a 54-11 record in her two seasons at Rochester, reached the finals of the Division III singles tournament last spring, where she lost 7-5, 6-2 to Amherst's Neeley Steinburg. "She was a superstar at Rochester, but she wasn't being challenged on the tennis courts," Dowd said. "She wanted to see how far she could take her game, and going to a Division I school with a national-level schedule, she could do that." In addition to Pirsu and Mazza, Penn will gain the services of freshman Niki DeCou, who is ranked seventh in the middle states region. "Niki's got a lot of athletic ability," Dowd said. "If she puts in summer work and works on her game, she could be competing for a spot." The Quakers open their fall schedule on September 20 at the Clay Court Championships, while the Georgia Invitational kickstarts their spring schedule on January 21.

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