National Tennis Center Invite | U.S. Open? Not quite, but it did the job

At this weekend's National Tennis Center Invite, the Quakers got to play on Arthur Ashe Stadium and use the same locker rooms as the pros.

But even with a behind-the-scenes tour of U.S. Open facilities, the women couldn't quite channel their inner Maria Sharapova.

The Red and Blue finished 10-9 at the 21-team, 128-player single-elimination tournament, which they primarily viewed as a pre-season warm-up.

"It was a great experience to get out there and spend a weekend in New York," coach Mike Dowd said. "We had some pretty good results and competed hard - that was the goal of the tournament."

At No. 14, senior Lauren Sadaka was Penn's highest-ranked player in the second singles bracket. But she lost to No. 13 seed Joanna Craven from Purdue, 6-2, 6-0.

Sadaka and freshman Emily Wolf advanced to the quarterfinals in the second doubles bracket, while Wolf advanced to the second round of the fourth singles bracket.

"Each team decides how many players they want to bring and we set up a committee to formulate who plays in which event," tournament director Whitney Kraft said. "This way, it stays ultracompetitive."

One of Penn's more impressive showings came from sophomore Alexa Ely, who advanced to the second round in both her third singles and third doubles matches.

"We all stood out in our own respects," Dowd said. "When we did lose, we learned from that as well."

Looking forward, the Quakers host the ITA Eastern Regional Invitational, their final tournament of the fall, on Oct. 24-28.

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