It's been two years since Lenka Snajdrova played competitive tennis, but she hasn't needed nearly that long to find her stroke again.
"You lose all the feelings for the ball," Snajdrova said of returning to competition after sitting out last year. "It feels like you've never been on the court before."
But after pairing up with Amanda Avedissian and Michelle Mitchell in the No. 2 or No. 3 doubles spots for the first half of the spring season, Snajdrova has recently seen action at the No. 1 doubles position alongside freshman Ekaterina Kosminskaya.
And when the Quakers (11-4, 1-0 Ivy) match up against Yale (6-7, 1-0) today at 2 p.m. and Brown (5-9, 0-1) tomorrow at noon on Lott Courts, coach Michael Dowd said Snajdrova will most likely have a spot at No. 1 doubles with Kosminskaya again in one of the matches.
"After a rocky start, [Snajdrova] is starting to feel more comfortable out there," Dowd said.
It appears this pair has been working out. Kosminskaya and Snajdrova combined for an 8-6 win at William & Mary, an 8-2 victory at Old Dominion and the same result, most recently during the Quakers' 5-2 trouncing of Princeton.
With Kosminskaya doubling at No. 1 singles and Snajdrova most likely at the No. 4 position, the pair will look to lift the Quakers to their second and third Ivy wins of the season.
In the weekend's first match, Penn will meet a Yale squad fresh off a whitewash of Connecticut and a 6-1 victory over Brown.
"It was a tight match with [Yale] last year and they have many of the same players returning," Dowd said.
Kosminskaya will have a tough matchup at No. 1 singles. After oscillating between No. 2 and No. 3 singles last year, the Elis' Janet Kim went undefeated in Ivy play and has since moved up to the No. 1 position.
But Dowd thinks that Kosminskaya will be able to take care of Kim.
"Her biggest weakness is that she doesn't have any weaknesses," Dowd said of his freshman star. "There's nowhere to run because her forehand, backhand, volley and serve - they're all very good."
If performance against common competitors is any indication, the Quakers have a clear edge.
The Elis also took a spring break trip out to California, where they emerged 1-2. The Quakers finished at 3-2.
Also at home on Saturday, Penn will encounter a weaker Brown squad that has fallen in its last two meetings.
Senior Michelle Pautler leads a squad primarily composed of freshmen and sophomores.
But while Brown will just be looking to stay afloat, Penn's own young roster will be expected to pull out two wins.
