W. Tennis: Penn grabs two more Ivy wins over Brown, Yale

During Spring Fling, the Ivy unbeaten streak of the Penn women's tennis team reached legal drinking age.

The No. 39 Quakers (14-4, 5-0 Ivy) won their 20th and 21st straight Ivy League contests, defeating No. 68 Brown (12-7, 1-2), 5-2, on Friday and No. 54 Yale (9-3, 1-2) by the same score Saturday at the Levy Tennis Pavilion.

"We were very focused" despite the many Spring Fling activities around campus, Penn junior Alice Pirsu said. "We all came out there with a good attitude, and we believed in ourselves."

"Our first job and responsibility was to the tennis team," sophomore Brandy Washington said.

Against Brown, Penn came out of the gates with emotion, sweeping the doubles point. Pirsu was in command, combining with senior Raluca Ciulei to take the first doubles match, 8-1, then defeating Kenny Meath, 6-2, 6-1, in No. 1 singles. The Quakers continued on from there, not losing a single game on the day.

"A lot of them were really quick matches, shorter than we expected," Washington said.

Yale came in riding high, having opened its season with seven straight wins -- including Boston College and No. 51 Ohio State -- and road victories over Syracuse and No. 70 Princeton.

But Pirsu and Ciulei, who was playing in her final home match, quickly stopped the Elis' momentum. Once again, Penn swept the doubles point, with the two Romanians leading the way. Pirsu then dispatched Yale's top player, Elizabeth Kaufman -- ranked 81st in the country -- 6-0, 6-0, and the Red and Blue were on the way to another victory.

"They are a very good team, they are very consistent," Pirsu said of the Elis squad.

"I know that [Kaufman] played well the whole season," she said. Kaufman's victories include a win over No. 18 Harvard's top player, Courtney Bergman, ranked 42nd in the country.

"I came out prepared to play good tennis, and I felt very comfortable and played very well," Pirsu added.

Pirsu "just really wanted to keep up her streak in the Ivies," Washington said.

As for the team's unbeaten spell, Washington was a bit more modest.

"Anything can change in the last two matches," against unranked Dartmouth and No. 18 Harvard next weekend, Washington said. "We're proud of what we accomplished, but there is still more work to be done."

"I don't think about it," Pirsu said. "I just take each match at a time and try to do my best. When you do that, everything comes naturally."

Spring Fling festivities were certainly on the team's mind over the weekend, but the players worked hard to keep from being distracted.

"We are really a close-knit group," Washington said. "We didn't want anyone to slack off or do something they shouldn't have the night before."

"We wanted to win our matches so we could go out and celebrate Saturday night," sophomore Michelle Yeh said. "And we did."

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