W. Tennis to face city rival

Last year, the accolades just kept on coming for Sanela Kunovac.

Then No. 1 singles player on the Penn women's tennis team, Kunovac ripped through Ivy competition en route to a No. 4 ranking in the East, earning both Ivy League Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year for her successes.

This year, by contrast, has been a nightmare for Kunovac. Saddled with a pair of bum knees, the sophomore captain has competed in only eight of Penn's 11 matches, hobbling her way to a disappointing 4-4 record.

Two of these four defeats came in the Quakers' Spring Break trip to the West Coast.

"I was not even at 100 percent," Kunovac said. "I was in pain and I wasn't in tennis shape in terms of match play."

Kunovac has been working hard to get back into tennis shape in preparation for a visit from some old friends this weekend.

Danira Penic and Lara Ercegovic -- the first and second singles players for Temple -- hail from the same Croatian area as the Quakers' star.

While Kunovac does not have as much history playing Penic -- Temple's No. 1 singles -- she had quite a rivalry against Ercegovic back in Split, Croatia.

"We had most of the tournaments together and they were all three hour matches," Kunovac said. "They were tough, because both Lara and I are competitors and we wanted to beat our opponent really badly."

While Kunovac has been relegated to the fourth singles spot recently with Nicole Ptak and Raluca Ciueli moving up in the lineup, she is angling for a chance to avenge her last defeat against Ercegovic.

"I was 14 years old," Kunovac said. "I think she won, 7-5, 7-5. We played two and a half hours in the finals of the Split Open Championships.

"You never want to lose to the same person two times in a row."

Aside from Kunovac hoping to snap her own personal losing streak, the Quakers will hope to bring an end to a skid of their own.

Since a 4-3 victory over Maryland on March 1, Penn(6-5) has lost four straight times -- including three losses to ranked opponents -- Virginia Commonwealth, UNLV and Fresno State -- and a defeat by unranked UC Irvine.

While Penn may have been overmatched in its defeats by ranked foes, what plagued the Quakers in their 4-3 loss to UC Irvine was a different kind of "over" -- overconfidence.

"I think we were too relaxed against an unranked team," Kunovac said. "There was a feeling of confidence but it was the wrong type of confidence."

But now that Penn has chalked the week up to experience, it seems then that there is no better time for the reeling Owls (2-10) to come to Lott Courts.

Despite their formidability at the top two singles positions -- both Penic and Ercegovic are ranked in the top-11 in the East -- Temple has lost six straight matches.

One of these defeats was a 5-2 loss to Penn State, a team the Quakers crushed earlier this year, 6-1.

"Our losses will really have us fired up," Kunovac said. "I have confidence that we'll be ready to go.

"It would be nice to start winning again."

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