Saturday started and ended well for the women's tennis team. But the time in between left much to be desired.
After sweeping the doubles against No. 14 Virginia Commonwealth, the Quakers lost the singles 5-1 to fall in the overall match, 5-2. The team rebounded with an easy 5-0 win over Georgetown (1-2) only hours afterward.
The loss to the powerhouse Rams (9-2) was the Quakers' first of the season.
"We played well," Penn coach Michael Dowd said. "VCU has got a lot of experienced players and when push came to shove at the tight times they stepped up a little better than we did."
The Quakers did stay undefeated in doubles by sweeping VCU 3-0.
"The girls were visibly excited after winning the doubles point," Dowd said. "VCU was undefeated in doubles and to get that first point was a big plus. It really gave us a shot to win that match."
The Quakers weren't able to capitalize during the singles matches, but they were encouraged by the number of competitive matches.
Last year, VCU didn't surrender a set, while on Saturday Penn wrestled away one match, while losing a trio of three-set matches.
"A lot of the three-setters could have gone either way," junior captain Yulia Rivelis said. "That's just how it happened today, but there is a reason they are ranked as high as they are."
Rivelis played one of those three-set matches and after winning the second set 6-3, she dropped the last one 3-6.
The lone singles win came from junior captain Julia Koulbitskaya who won 6-4, 4-6, and 3-4 since her opponent, Maria Klokotzky, retired due to a shoulder injury.
"We knew the match had been decided but I would have liked to continue and win outright," Koulbitskaya said.
The Quakers got a few more wins in the afternoon when they swept the Hoyas in a shortened five-point match.
With Penn's starters tired from the VCU match, coach Dowd got an opportunity to play his Nos. 7, 8 and 9 players.
Everyone on the team competed that day, and only Rivelis played in both matches.
"I knew that we had more talent than Georgetown, but our 7, 8, 9 are good," said Dowd. "There certainly is not a big dropoff so I was confident putting them in."
The players didn't disappoint, winning all of their matches in straight sets. And that showed Dowd some things he might not have otherwise.
A notable win came from freshman Jacqueline Wong, who won 6-1, 6-1 in her Penn debut.
"It was exciting because I don't get to play a lot," Wong said. "It was a really good feeling when I got introduced in the lineup."
It was nice for the Quakers to end the day with a win in support of their No. 36 national ranking in the Feb. 13 rankings. But the real story was the disappointing match against VCU.
"It's tough to be pleased with any loss," Dowd said. "But I hope we will say we can beat this team and that we can be a top-20 team."
For now, all they can say is that they put up a fight against one.
