After a strong opening weekend to the Ivy League season, the Penn women's tennis team faces one of its bigger challenges this weekend when Princeton comes to the Lott Tennis Courts.
The Quakers are coming off two impressive wins -- a 6-1 victory of Cornell in Ithaca on Saturday, followed by a shutout victory of Columbia at Penn.
The Tigers (6-4, 0-0 Ivy) enter their first weekend of Ivy League play fresh off a three-match winning streak, including consecutive shutouts of Temple and George Washington.
"It should be a lot of fun with lots of fans," Penn freshman Sarah Schiffman said. "We've had a good week of practice so we're confident."
Princeton enters the Ivy League season on a mission shared by the six other teams in the Ivy League -- to dethrone the three-time defending champion Quakers (11-4, 2-0).
The Tigers, who finished 4-3 in the Ivies last year, feature a young team. Their roster boasts six freshman many of whom play important roles in Princeton's quest for an Ivy League championship
Despite their overall youth, Princeton is led by their one senior -- No. 1 singles player Kavitha Krishnamurthy.
Krishnamurthy enters her final season with the Tigers as one of Princeton's all-time greats. As a freshman she was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year.
Since then she has done little to disappoint.
After an impressive 22-8 record in 2002, Krishnamurthy is off to a strong start once again -- entering this weekend's match with an impressive 14-8 record in singles play.
Unfortunately for Krishnamurthy, she will arrive at Lott tomorrow only to meet the Ivy League's top singles player in Penn's Alice Pirsu. This matchup at No. 1 singles should prove to be the most intriguing contest of the weekend.
Behind Krismamurthey, Princeton is paced by one of its fabulous freshmen, No. 52 Neha Uberoi. Uberoi, a product of Boca Raton, Fla., and Princeton's only nationally-ranked player has played extremely well in her first year at Princeton with a 16-3 record. She too faces a difficult challenge as she will face off with the Penn's No. 2 singles player Nicole Ptak. The junior has filled in successfully for Pirsu against Temple earlier this season.
The rest of the Tigers lineup is young and talented. At No. 3 singles the Tigers feature Alison Hashmall, followed by Stephanie Berg in the fourth spot, Jessica Siebel at No. 5 and Jackie Arcario at No. 6.
On the double's side, the Tigers are once again led by Uberoi, who pairs up with Jessica Siebel to form a potent duo at No. 1 doubles.
"Penn versus Princeton is always a big matchup," Schiffman said.
With the rest of the league gunning for them, the Quakers will need to continue their strong play as they hope to maintain their reign atop the Ivy League.
"We looked pretty good in practice so we feel confident," junior Sanela Kunovac said. "Princeton is a really tough team so it should be a really good match."
