W. Tennis falls in NCAAs

The Penn women's tennis team learned a very important lesson the hard way on Friday -- that the better team doesn't always win. The No. 41 Quakers were favored to beat No. 52 South Carolina in the opening round of the 2003 NCAA Tournament. However, the Gamecocks overcame the odds, bouncing Penn from the tourney with a 4-3 victory. The Quakers were far from happy just to make the tournament and were upset that they could not advance. "It was a disappointment," Penn coach Michael Dowd said. "We thought we were the better team and we still do." South Carolina got the first point of the day at No. 3 doubles, as the Gamecocks' Catherine Brown and Justine Walsh defeated Penn's Nikki Ptak and Raluca Ciochina, 8-5, despite trailing early. The other two doubles matches were just as tight. Penn's No.1 team -- Alice Pirsu and Raluca Ciulei -- were also defeated, 9-7, in a match that featured numerous ties and lead changes. The Quakers' No. 2 team -- Rachel Shweky and Shelah Chao -- were trailing 8-7 before the match was halted. This marked only the second time that the Quakers fell in doubles action all season. "We had some opportunities that got away," Dowd said. "Especially in doubles." Penn needed a strong singles performance to make up for these losses, but not enough were forthcoming. Pirsu -- currently ranked 23rd in the nation -- did her part, beating Kathy Boyanovich 6-2 in the first set and 1-0 in the second before Boyanovich retired. "Alice did her job," Dowd said. Penn freshman Caroline Stanislawski also came through with the victory at the No. 5 spot, knocking off South Carolina's Brown -- 6-3, 6-0. The Quakers got a third singles win courtesy of Ciochina at the No. 6 position, as the native Romanian blitzed the Gamecocks' Walsh -- 6-1, 6-0. Needing only one win at the No. 2, 3, or 4 spot, the Quakers seemed to be in good position. But South Carolina refused to quit. Penn's Ciulei was easily downed by South Carolina's Danielle Wiggins -- 6-1, 6-1 "[Wiggins] was very good and very tough," Dowd said. "She didn't miss a ball." Chao was also unable to get that golden win for the Quakers, falling 6-2, 6-3 at the No. 4 position. So the chance to advance to the next round rested on the winner of the No. 2 match between Penn's Ptak and South Carolina's Jodi Kenoyer. After splitting the first two sets, this became the day's only match to visit the third frame. Despite leading 3-1 early in the set, Ptak was unable to hold her lead, falling 6-3. In spite of the loss, Dowd is still proud of his team's accomplishments for the year. "We did some things this year that we've never done before," he said. "We got an at-large bid to the tournament, which no Ivy team has done before. We were ranked higher this year [31st] than in the past two years when we won the Ivy League." While the team's season is finished Pirsu's is not, as the senior was invited to compete in the 64-person NCAA Singles Championship starting May 19 at the University of Florida. Pirsu's first round opponent has not yet been announced. Pirsu was eliminated in the round of 16 in last year's individual tourney.