Outdoor tennis is a whole different animal than its indoor counterpart. As women's tennis head coach Mike Dowd put it, "You have the elements of wind, sun, and the points are longer. It's a little bit more like a chess match outdoors."
After a week-long trip in California in which they lost four of five outdoor matches, Dowd's team is going to get another mouthful of the elements against Marshall (12-4) and No. 25 William and Mary (9-8) this weekend at Williamsburg, Va.
Despite the tough losses the Quakers have suffered - losing four straight, 4-3 - the team feels that it will reap the dividends of the California swing.
"Playing outdoors really helps," senior co-captain Yulia Rivelis said. "I think we should be well prepared for this weekend and the upcoming Ivy season."
It starts with this weekend. Despite the records, the Quakers are much more concerned about the Tribe than the Thundering Herd. Penn defeated Marshall last season 5-2. This year, they will face what Dowd called a "very similar team to what we played last year."
The home team, however, is the one about which Penn really has to worry. All of William and Mary's losses were against ranked competition, and the Tribe are just coming off of a 5-2 victory over No. 18 Fresno State to cap off a California road swing of their own.
Four members of the Tribe crack the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's rankings. Among those is Megan Moulton-Levy, ranked 10th in the nation with a 21-6 overall record. Five of her losses came against players in the top eight, and she recently dispatched No. 9 Melanie Gloria.
To pull off the upset, Penn will have to take advantage of its depth in both doubles and singles.
"Those two teams are very strong up top, so we have to be well-prepared at the bottom of the lineup," senior co-captain Julia Koulbitskaya said.
The team's leadership has also stressed the importance of winning the doubles points to put less pressure on the singles players. Penn's doubles teams started off the season very well, but faltered down the stretch against Pepperdine and Long Beach State. Currently, the Quakers have been trying out some new doubles combinations.
"We've been practicing with a lot of different doubles partners in case somebody gets hurt, or so the coach feels comfortable changing up the lineup at any given moment," Koulbitskaya said.
Along with working heavily on their doubles play, the Quakers have enjoyed a bit of a respite. Although they have been doing fitness exercises to get in better shape, on-court practice was lighter than usual this week to allow the players to regroup from the grueling California trip.
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