Yale provided a cold, cruel wakeup call to the women's tennis team on Friday, but the Quakers woke up just as quickly.
Heavily-favored Penn beat Yale 5-2 and Brown 7-0, but not before the team was dealt a scare.
The Quakers (13-4, 3-0 Ivy) lost 2-1 in doubles against the Bulldogs (7-8, 2-1), putting them behind early on.
"We got off to a rocky start," coach Michael Dowd said. "We didn't have the energy and it cost us the doubles point."
The Quakers quickly rebounded and refused to let the loss cost them the match.
"We could have played better in the doubles," co-captain Yulia Rivelis said. "But we were able to make up for it by playing well in the singles."
Penn won five of six singles matches. At No. 1, Ekaterina Kosminskaya continued her dominance, winning in straight sets, 6-3 and 6-2 over Janet Kim, a sophomore who was previously undefeated in Ivy play.
The Red and Blue have come to expect as much from Kosminskaya, but have also gotten big contributions from junior transfer Charlotte Tansill. Tansill, who has been in and out of the lineup all season, won both her matches in straight sets over the weekend.
"I just have a lot of confidence in my game," Tansill said. "I'm comfortable with my serve, which I was struggling with earlier in the season."
The win over the Bears (5-11, 0-3) was never in doubt. Penn swept the doubles 3-0 behind some new tandems as coach Dowd broke up his number-one doubles team of Kosminskaya and Lenka Snajdrova for the matchup.
"We need three solid teams out there," Dowd said. "We can't win the doubles point with just one great team."
The Quakers also went on to dominate the singles, winning every match in straight sets. "Everyone did what they had to do on their court," co-captain Julia Koulbitskaya said. "When that happens, winning 7-0 is just extra sweet."
Sophomore Lauren Sadaka won 6-3, 6-0 over Kathrin Sorokko at number-six singles to stay undefeated on the season. Koulbitskaya notched her second victory of the weekend, winning 6-2, 6-2 at number-two singles.
The Quakers' next two matches won't be as easy. They take on No. 71 Dartmouth and defending-champion Harvard this weekend, and they can't afford to start off sluggish.
"It was good that Yale was tough," Tansill said. "It was a reality check. We aren't going to come out slow again."
