The spring season for tennis is starting with a bang.
With two big wins against Drexel and Saint Joseph's under its belt, the men's tennis team has established a high benchmark for this afternoon's match against Georgetown.
The Quakers will have a quick turn-around when they travel to face Old Dominion on Sunday, but they won't be overlooking the Hoyas.
While Georgetown has already dropped its first two contests - 6-1 to both Old Dominion and Navy - it's still a notch above Penn's two intracity rivals.
The Hoyas boast a couple of players ranked in the region, and only lost 4-3 to a sixth-seeded Yale in the fall ECAC Invitational.
"It's going to be a battle, and the guys know we will need to play at full strength," coach Nik DeVore said. "We have a very talented team."
It's welcoming back some familiar faces.
Jonathan Boym returned from a shoulder injury that sidelined him throughout the fall. Adam Schwartz, Jason Pinksy and Brandon O'Gara all missed the Drexel match with illnesses.
The women's team, meanwhile, is having its own bout with illness. Senior tri-captain Julia Koulbitskaya said that the week has been stressful, with the flu bug going around campus.
But a little virus won't keep her down.
"We're really excited," Koulbitsakaya said. "It's interesting to be back . to play with the team dynamic."
The fall season, players say, is more about individual results, while the spring emphasizes the team's performance.
Koulbitskaya said the Quakers had "a great fall season," which featured four tournaments, and in which she and sophomore Ekaterina Kosminskaya jumped 39 spots to become the 14th-ranked doubles team in the nation.
Now, the women start off the spring by hosting Temple this Saturday at Lott Courts. The Owls lost their first match of the season, 5-2, to Princeton.
"We've had two and a half weeks of practice now, been getting into shape," said Penn coach Mike Dowd.
Nine players return from the Quakers' squad that won the Ivy League title and went to the NCAA tournament last year - the fifth time in seven years for Dowd.
Among those are Kosminskaya, the unanimous Ivy League Rookie and Player of the Year who never lost an Ivy match in either singles or doubles.
Lauren Sadaka, now a junior, won 30 straight sets and went 15-0 in spring dual-matches.
Two freshmen will be making their official debuts tomorrow: California native Vidya Dabir, and Alexa Ely, the 2004 North Carolina Individual champion.
Now, there's just one thing left to do.
"We're looking forward to the courts," he said.
