This weekend will be a make-or-break moment for the women's tennis team. Though the Quakers (7-7, 2-1 Ivy) are officially in fourth place in the Ivy League, that's only because there's a three-way tie atop the standings.
Penn sits just one game back, and this weekend it hosts Harvard (2-12, 2-0) and Dartmouth (14-1, 2-0) - two of the conference's three undefeated schools.
Senior captain Julia Koulbitskaya stated the obvious.
"We're definitely not in as good a position as we were in last year, because we went 7-0 in the Ivies," she said. "Anything can happen in these next two weekends."
That logjam atop the Ancient Eight is misleading. Harvard is winless in non-conference games, while No. 72 Dartmouth has been nearly unbeatable.
The Big Green are coming up an easy 7-0 victory over Cornell, in which they did not lose a singles set.
The Quakers may also be happy that this weekend's matches are at Lott Courts; in addition to the usual home-court advantages, the Cornell bus got lost and stuck in the mud during the trip to the Granite State.
"We hope to get a lot of people to come out and watch," Koulbitskaya said. "Two really strong back-to-back performances and finally a home match means a lot to us."
Despite the two opponents' discrepancies in non-conference performance, Penn head coach Mike Dowd said that he expects a "battle" for both matches.
His squad, meanwhile, is trying to improve its performance in the clutch.
Dowd said that in last weekend's doubles matches the Quakers were "a point or two away from winning." (That may have been true on Saturday, but on Friday they were swept 3-0).
"I still feel we have strong doubles teams," he added. "We just haven't been able to win one or two points here or there when it really matters."
But it is not just the player's performance that is losing them key points.
"I think a part of it is that we have changed partners a lot," Koulbitskaya said. "Not me personally, but I think throughout our doubles lineup there's really not enough consistency.
Even if they're worried about past lineups, the team cannot harp on past mistakes during this weekend.
"We had to re-group and kind of re-focus our energies and keep thinking positive after our loss last weekend," Koulbitskaya said.
The Red and Blue will need all of that positive energy if they still hope to defend their league crown - an outcome which is becoming less likely but hardly impossible.
"We definitely have a shot [at the title]," Dowd said. "It's not going to be easy."
