After an impressive 9-4 out of conference record, the No. 40 and two-time defending Ivy League champion Penn women's tennis team appears poised to take on the Ivy League.
This Saturday the Quakers will open their conference schedule with a trip to New York to take on Cornell, followed on Sunday with a home match at Levy Pavilion against Columbia.
The Quakers enter the Ivy season on a two match win streak, with victories against Rice during spring break and more recently, a 6-1 victory over Philly-foe Temple at Levy Pavilion.
Fresh off a strong week of practice, the Quakers are set to take on the league. The Quakers will depend heavily on their leader. Junior Alice Pirsu, a native of Bucharest, is currently ranked No. 17 in the nation.
Pirsu holds the position as the team's No. 1 singles player, and she is also the Ivy League's highest ranked singles player.
Behind Pirsu, the Quakers' attack features Nicole Ptak at the No. 2 singles spot, and the two Ralucas -- Ciulei and Ciochina -- handling the No. 3 and No. 4 duties.
In Cornell and Columbia, the Quakers will face two of their weaker opponents in the league.
The Big Red host the Quakers this weekend featuring a 2-7 non-league record.
Their most recent defeat -- an 8-1 drubbing at the hands of Florida Atlantic during their spring break trip to Boca Raton, Fla. -- was indicative of Cornell's weak performance to start the season.
Cornell will be paced by their No. 1 singles player, Akane Kokubo and No. 2 singles player Laura Leight Tallent, who is coming off a defeat to Florida Atlantic's Karolina Roubickova (6-1, 6-2).
The two should be relatively easy matchups for the Quakers 1-2 duo of Pirsu and Ptak.
Sunday, the Quakers return to Levy Pavilion to take on Columbia (7-2). Columbia's attack is led by No. 1 singles player Shelly Mittal and No. 2 singles player Molly Condit, both of whom are coming off straight set losses in their most recent match against Barry.
"We're all really excited to start the Ivy season," Penn sophomore Michelle Yeh said. "We've been practicing really hard, and we are going to do our best to win the league this year."
The two-time defending Ivy League champion Quakers appear poised and ready for the start of the season.
Unlike their opponents this weekend -- who are both coming off two match losing streaks -- the Quakers have momentum on their side with their two-match winning streak.
Another championship is the goal, for this team, with anything less being a relative disappointment in Yeh's mind.
"We really want to make it a three-peat."
