Old and new can't prevail for W. Tennis

By LEIGH SILVER

Staff Writer

silver@dailypennsylvanian.com

Ekaterina Kosminskaya knows that sometimes, you just can't win every match.

Playing as the Penn women's tennis team's No. 1 in both doubles and singles, the junior could only muster a 2-2 record against Virginia Commonwealth and Richmond this weekend.

Her team fared even worse. Playing host, the Quakers lost Saturday to VCU, 5-2, then again to Richmond, 6-1, yesterday.

Against VCU, Kosminskaya and sophomore Alexa Ely won their doubles match against twins Ana and Alex Bara, 8-5.

Kosminskaya beat Ana Bara later in a singles match. After Kosminskaya and Bara won a set each, 7-5, Penn's captain won the tie-breaking super set 10-6.

"It was a really good win for me, and it's more important than [yesterday's] match," Kosminskaya said.

The outcomes of both matches yesterday surprised Kosminskaya. After losing the first set in the doubles match, she and Ely fought back to steal the second. Down a break in the tiebreaker, Kosminskaya faulted twice, and the Richmond team placed the ball between Ely and Kosminskaya to win the set, 7-3.

"No. 1 doubles we started a little bit shaky and then picked it up at the end, but then we lost a close one," interim coach Sara Schiffman said.

In singles, both Ely and Kosminskaya found themselves falling to familiar opponents.

Ely battled Richmond's Kelly Tidwell before the two were in college, but had never lost to her until yesterday. Kosminskaya played the Spiders' Pamela Duran a year ago, and won both sets, 6-0. So yesterday, she was surprised when Duran won in the tie-breaking set.

"I expected to win again, but I was not playing well at all," she said. "I was really inconsistent, and I was really tired after [Saturday's] match."

Besides fatigue, Penn's lack of experience may be another reason for the losses.

"We're still a very young team, and it's still very early in the season," Schiffman said. "We're not happy to lose, but we're not going to get down on ourselves."

Despite losing both of her singles matches in her first varsity action of the season, freshman Jordyn Shaffer has her coach's confidence.

"I think she's really close to making a breakthrough and being a solid player for us," Schiffman said.

Shaffer lost both matches in tie-breakers.

"I just think it's a matter of experience, and I think my opponents have that under their belts, and its hard to compete with that," Shaffer said. "I'm trying to have a positive attitude, but when you're that close, it's frustrating."

Penn's only senior, Lauren Sadaka, proved that experience pays off. She won both singles matches and scored the only point against Richmond.

"Lauren Sadaka played two great matches," Schiffman said. "She had a very consistent weekend, and that's a good sign for the rest of the season."

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