W. Tennis: Quakers' young stars emerge in N.Y.

Though the Penn women's tennis team was without its senior leaders and coach this weekend, the eight players who traveled to New York responded to the challenge in the Quakers' first away match of the fall season.

Penn freshman Amanda Jasso summarized the events of the weekend as "amazing," going 3-2 in competition over the weekend.

While Jasso experienced collegiate competition at the Cissie Leary Invitational last weekend, the Texas native got her first glimpse of New York, and her first road trip experience with the team, all in one.

"Tennis-wise, it was a really good experience," she said. "It was also nice to be able to play a lot of different girls who all had very different styles of play."

The round-robin tournament lacked an official lineup. Totaling three singles and two doubles matches, each athlete played three matches on Saturday, followed by two more on Sunday, all between Penn, Columbia and Princeton.

Though they did not keep score as a team, the eight Penn competitors all did well individually.

"It definitely felt as though Penn dominated," freshman Ashley Lostritto said.

Sophomore Caroline Stanislawski led the team by going 5-0 over the weekend, followed by sophomore Sara Schiffman and juniors Felicia Curcuru and Junior Kate Williams all of whom finished 4-1. Sophomore Raluca Ciochina also boasted a winning record at 3-2.

Overall, Penn's doubles also proved stronger than both the Lions' and Tigers' squads. The duos of Stanislawski and Ciochina, Schiffman and Jasso as well as Williams and Curcuru all went undefeated.

The Quakers missed the coaching of Penn coach Michael Dowd due to a wedding, as well as the support from the three captains and several upperclassmen. Juniors Williams and Michelle Yeh filled the leadership roles for the Quakers. Despite the absence of Dowd and the seniors, the eight competing Penn athletes fared well on their own.

"We're used to having them around," Jasso said, "but we were still able to do pretty well."

The trip to New York was not only the first road trip for the freshmen, but for Penn's assistant coach Dawn Buth as well, who assumed full responsibility as coach this weekend.

The road trip allowed Buth, who has already developed a strong rapport with the athletes, to get to know the team even better than before.

"I think the weekend went really well," Lostritto said. "We all played well, had a good time and it was a great bonding experience. It was also really nice to have the team together away from campus."

Staying at Lostritto's house in New York was even better than the athletes had imagined.

"It was a big play house," Lostritto said.

Although she felt this week's competition was "not as intense" as compared to that of last weekend's, Ciochina described the weekend as "pretty tough."

"We were all very tired," she added.

While playing many matches in a short period of time proved challenging, the tournament was "good preparation for this weekend," Ciochina said.

The athletes look to train hard for the upcoming tournament at Flushing Meadows, N.Y., this weekend, where they will stay at Lostritto's house for the second consecutive weekend. The tournament will mark the end of the fall season for the Quakers, so they will try to finish as strong as possible.

"We hope to make the very most of" our last showing before the spring, Schiffman said.

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