On the heels of a successful but still somewhat disappointing season for a perennial Ivy League powerhouse, the Penn women's tennis team looks to open its fall season in solid fashion at the Cissie Leary Invitational this weekend.
Last season, the team finished 15-5, 5-2 in the Ancient Eight, and were ranked within the top 30 teams in the nation at one point. Those two Ivy losses, however, thwarted any chance of an Ivy League title, as well as a fourth straight trip to tennis' equivalent of the Big Dance.
As the Quakers take the court this weekend for their first matches of the 2004 campaign, they will be remembering beloved former coach Cissie Leary. Although Leary died eight years ago after battling cancer and scleroma, her name lives on in this tournament as well as in a national tennis sportsmanship award.
"The Cissie Leary Invitational is one of the strongest tournaments in the country," Penn head coach Michael Dowd said. "A lot of teams are playing and the draw is about as big as we can handle."
The Quakers lost three seniors to graduation last year who were all starters and important contributors.
"It will be interesting to see if the young players will be able to compete," Dowd said.
With most of the Penn players competing and with some of the strongest opponents in the Ivy League such as Harvard and Princeton attending, the tournament will be a good indicator of the Quakers' future success this season and in crunch time this spring.
Look for senior captain Shelah Chao and junior Caroline Stanislawski to fill the void left by departed All-Ivy players Nikky Ptak and Rachel Shweky.
"These are our top returning players," Dowd said.
But the fate of the rest of the players is unclear. "The next few weeks will help determine the lineup for this spring," Dowd added.
