Anyone who thought that a week and two days between matches would prove detrimental to the Penn women's tennis team was obviously not in attendance for its match with Seton Hall. The No. 41 Quakers (5-3) made quick work of the Pirates (2-3), finishing off the match in two and a half hours with an impressive 7-0 shutout. Penn's top player, Alice Pirsu the No. 14 player in the country, sat out the match to rest. However, the rest of the Penn squad proved to be quite formidable in her absence from the lineup. The Quakers dropped only one set on the day while sweeping every doubles and singles match. "We played very well today," Penn coach Michael Dowd. "Having a match, sometimes, in the middle of the week when you go to classes during the day is tough, and they came out with a great warm-up and started off very strong." In doubles play, 8-3 proved to be a familiar final score, as each Penn pair was victorious by that margin. The Quakers' first-seeded pair of senior Raluca Ciulei and sophomore Shelah Chao topped the Pirates' junior Kimberly Barfuss and sophomore Lorell Zamot. "Raluca and I played together last year, and we were really good," Chao said. "But we haven't played for a while, so it was kind of like a reunion for us, and we were excited, hoping to do as good as [we] have done in the past." The second-seeded duo of sophomore Kate Williams and freshman Caroline Stanislawski defeated Seton Hall's freshman Viviana Figueroa and junior Emelie Akerbrant. Completing the doubles sweep, juniors Rachel Shweky and Nicole Ptak came out on top of sophomores Erin Burke and Lara Spagnuolo. Singles play proved to be just as one-sided for the Red and Blue. Four of the sets were shutouts, and in only one set did a Seton Hall player win more than two games. Ptak effectively assumed the No. 1 position in Pirsu's absence. The junior yielded only one game to her opponent in a 6-1, 6-0 victory. "It was a good match," Ptak said. "We came in knowing that we'd beaten them in the past. We had a good opportunity, and we all played well." In other singles play, Ciulei topped Akerbrant, 6-1, 6-1. Chao handled Zamot, 6-2, 6-2, and Stanislawski rebounded after dropping the first set to win a superset in the third, 4-6, 6-1, 1-0 (11-9). Sophomore Michelle Yeh posted a clean shutout over Spagnuolo, 6-0, 6-0. Freshman Sara Schiffman rounded out play with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Burke. Penn looks to take the momentum of this win into the rest of their schedule. "It gives us confidence to go out here and know that we can close them out in the way that we did," Ptak said. The Quakers upcoming schedule is quite daunting, as its next three matchups come against ranked foes. "The next three matches in a row we play Maryland, Pepperdine and Fresno [State], all highly nationally ranked teams," Dowd said. "And it should be a good challenge for us."
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