W. Tennis: Training paces Penn at U.S. Open facility

Prior to this weekend's first Annual United States Tennis Association National Tennis Center Women's Invitational in Flushing, N.Y., Penn sophomore Caroline Stanislawski predicted the intense training that the Quakers had endured would "probably show this weekend."

Her foresight was correct.

Coming off of a perfect weekend on Oct. 4-5 at the Columbia Invite when she went 5-0, Stanislawski followed through with another undefeated record, claiming the singles title of the "B" bracket with a 3-0 performance on the weekend.

Nearly all of the Quakers competed in the tournament. Penn's nine individuals faced tough competition from the other 15 teams, including No. 6 Washington, No. 12 Kentucky, No. 38 Michigan and all of the Ivies with the exception of Yale. Kentucky's Aibika Kalsarieva claimed both the "A" singles and doubles titles of the tournament.

The "A" singles bracket was represented by Penn's upperclassmen, senior Nicole Ptak and junior Shela Chao. Ptak lost in the first round, while Chao fell in the second.

Three-set matches, tiebreakers and games played under the lights at the site of U.S. Open matches enhanced the player's experience.

"Playing at the site of the U.S. Open was awesome," Penn sophomore Sara Schiffman said.

Penn freshman Amanda Jasso defeated Cornell's Melanie Tu in her first match in three sets, 6-1, 0-6, 4-1. Jasso and junior Kate Williams both advanced to the semifinals of the singles "D" bracket.

Schiffman also came through under the lights in a close match when she came from behind, 2-5, to win her second set in a tiebreaker, 7-5. Schiffman then qualified to enter the finals where she would face one of her own.

The singles bracket finals of the "C" flight came down to Schiffman against teammate Raluca Ciochina. In spite of the matchup, both Quakers maintained their competitive edge, fighting until the bitter end. Ciochina finally defeated Schiffman in a three-set match that concluded with a 10-8 tiebreaker.

While the athletes noted it was tough to compete against one another, Schiffman added that "it wasn't as bad as I thought."

The "A" doubles bracket was represented by Ptak, Ciochina, Chao and senior Rachel Shweky. Chao and Shweky advanced to the semifinals of the doubles bracket.

"It was great to have several players advance to at least the semifinals" of their respective flights, Ciochina said.

The Quakers also exhibited success in the "B" flight doubles matches. The duo of Schiffman and Jasso advanced to the semifinals of their bracket.

Going into the tournament, Ptak had hoped to "improve upon what [she] accomplished at Cissie Leary and hopefully get something good in return."

Select members of Penn will now prepare for the ITA East Regional Championships on Oct. 24 at Virginia Tech.

The USTA Invitational built confidence for those that will be continuing the season at the Regionals, and for the approaching spring season.

"Everybody really did a great job," Ciochina said.

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