Can Ivy spirit aid W. Tennis woes?

If history is bound to repeat itself, the Princeton women's tennis team better not underestimate the Quakers. Last year, then-No. 72 Penn defeated then-No. 64 Princeton, 5-2, on the Tigers' home court.

This year, the Red and Blue will have home-court advantage when they take on the Tigers in their first Ivy League match of the season. The showdown between the rivals begins tomorrow at noon on Penn's Lott Courts, and the Quakers are ready.

"I'm looking for us to go out in the very beginning aggressive and really pumped up," interim coach Sara Schiffman said. "I'm expecting that if we go out there and compete really well and just leave everything out on the court that we can definitely come away winning this match."

Penn (1-9) is currently unranked after a tough spring break trip in California, during which the Quakers dropped four matches.

"We've played a lot of really tough teams, and with playing those teams may come some more losses than if we'd played teams we know we can beat," Schiffman said.

"But in playing those tough teams we're getting better and better. I'm just motivated to look towards the Ivy season."

Princeton (12-6) - currently No. 48 - picked up a 5-2 win over St. Mary's University, which defeated the Quakers, 7-0, over the break.

The Tigers' climb in the rankings is linked to the addition of two talented freshmen to their roster - Lauren McHale and Hilary Bartlett - who are both consistently playing at the top of Princeton's lineup. The two complement Princeton's No. 1 player from last year, junior Melissa Saiontz,.

So, the return of Penn's co-captain and No. 1 singles player Ekaterina Kosminskaya from injury couldn't come at a better time. With Kosminskaya at No. 1, the Quakers can't help but feel like this weekend could be the turnaround they need.

"As a team, I think everyone is looking forward to the beginning of the [conference] season," the junior from Moscow said. "Our whole season up until now we've been practicing for the Ivy League - it will be big."

One place where the Quakers can hope to shine is in doubles, according to Schiffman. Otherwise, they're going to "take [it] one match at a time.

"We have to go in to every match thinking that we can upset whoever we're playing, no matter if they're ranked ahead of us or behind us, and I think that's no different [with Princeton]."

Schffman thinks that her team has the fight and attitude to help them prevail.

"We're really motivated. We're really pumped up, and I think that will take us far as a team in terms of team camaraderie and team spirit," Schiffman added. "We're looking to having a lot of fun and a great start [to Ivy play]."

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