History, but not the kind Dowd's after

For the first seven days of spring break, the women's tennis team kept coming up just short in California. The Quakers lost to No. 72 San Diego State, No. 47 UC Irvine, No. 27 Pepperdine and No. 32 Long Beach State all by the score of 4-3.

That was the first time coach Mike Dowd has ever lost four straight games by a 4-3 score in his 12-year career at Penn.

But in their last match before flying back east they bounced back, dominating San Diego on Saturday, 7-0.

To start the Golden State swing, Dowd split up the undefeated, 17th-ranked doubles team of Julia Koulbitskaya and Ekaterina Kosiminskaya. Koulbitskaya was very familiar with her new partner, Amanda Avedissian, as the two played together in the International Tennis Federation Juniors competition before attending Penn.

"Changing it up keeps the girls energized," Dowd said. "In case of an injury they can fill in with a new partner."

Koulbitskaya added that Dowd "wanted to balance out the other teams who have been up and down."

The move paid off against San Diego State, as the Red and Blue won two of the three doubles matches. In singles, however, only Kosminskaya and Charlotte Tansill won. Kosminskaya upset her opponent, ranked No. 86 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1.

Against Irvine, though, the powerhouse pair of Kosminskaya and Koulbitskaya was back together and remained undefeated, while the team of Tansill and Maria Anisimova won to seal another doubles point for Penn.

But again, it was the lack of singles success that led to another loss, as only Koulbitskaya and Rivelis were able to win their matches.

The Red and Blue split the six singles contests against Pepperdine, but this time the doubles teams let them down and prevented them from securing their first West Coast victory. All three pairs - including Kosminskaya and Koulbitskaya - lost 8-4. Pepperdine's top doubles team of Bianca Dulgheru and Sylvia Kosakowski was ranked ninth in the country and undefeated themselves.

In the match with Long Beach State, Anisimova and Tansill were able to win together for the first time on the trip, but Kosminskaya and Koulbitskaya lost for the second time in a row and the pieces did not seem to fall into place.

That all changed against San Diego. The Quakers swept all six singles matches and all three doubles matches for the first shutout win of the year.

Penn is now 4-5 this spring, with all its losses against ITA-ranked opponents. The Quakers head to Williamsburg, Va. for a pair of matches next weekend.

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