Winning an Ivy League championship two consecutive years is a lofty goal, but the Penn women's tennis team plans to do just that.
Mike Dowd, head coach since 1996, believes he has the unique combination of players to do it.
"This is a special team," Dowd said. "This is arguably the best . senior class, that I've ever had."
After finishing a perfect 7-0 Ivy League season last spring, the Quakers earned a trip to the first round of NCAA tournament play, where they fell to Wake Forest, 4-1.
The team hopes to punch a return ticket to the NCAAs, but snagging the conference title comes first.
It won't be easy.
"I think the league is stronger this year; all the teams are better than they were last year," said Dowd.
"Even though we have the same nucleus as the center of our team, it was tough last year, and for us to do it again, it's going to be even tougher," he said.
But San Francisco native and senior tri-captain Yulia Rivelis says she thinks the team can do it.
"It is a high expectation, but I think it's quite the achievable goal," she said.
"If we go into every match with as much intensity and determination as possible, put our best foot forward, I think we should be fine."
Dowd said this year's toughest Ivy competition will likely come from Yale and Princeton, the two runners-up last year.
But Dowd says that Penn's team sparkles with "remarkable" depth and strength. Three of his returning players earned first team All-Ivy singles honors last year: Rivelis, senior tri-captain Julia Koulbitskaya of Locust Valley, N.Y., and sophomore Ekaterina Kosminskaya from Moscow, Russia.
As a doubles team, Kosminskaya and Koulbitskaya were recently ranked 14th in the country by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), 39 spots higher than last season.
In addition to first-team All-Ivy honors, Kosminskaya was unanimously elected Ivy League Rookie of the Year and Ivy League Player of the Year. Though a young member of the team, she "speaks with her racquet," Dowd said.
He is looking for Kosminskaya to go undefeated again this year in League play and perhaps make the NCAA singles tournament.
Two other seniors will likely join Rivelis and Koulbitskaya in the starting lineup, Dowd said, and the four of them are motivated to end their collegiate careers as champions.
Third tri-captain senior Michelle Mitchell of East Amherst, N.Y. - whose parents enrolled her in tennis lessons at age four because she disliked preschool so much - is looking forward to the spring season's emphasis on team play.
"The fall is all individual, so we're all excited to start to play as a team, really root for each other," said Mitchell.
"I think when we get ready for our team matches, we try to have more support, where everyone is just mentally ready to play as a team," she said.
Thanks to Philadelphia's cold weather, the first time the Quakers play outdoors won't be in the Keystone State, but in the Golden State. During spring break competitions, the squad plans to play "a lot of good teams" - five, to be precise, all in Southern California - "and really peak," said Dowd. "Get a lot of matches, a lot of tennis in. That's what, really, spring break is for."
But the season opener begins here - with some Philadelphia flavor - as the Quakers host cross-town rival Temple.
