W. Tennis shut out in first ivy match

Sometimes numbers can be deceiving.

That was the case in the Penn women’s tennis match against Princeton — at least according to coach Sanela Kunovac.

On Saturday, the Red and Blue took on the Tigers on Princeton’s turf, where they were swept 7-0 and lost each of the singles matches in straight sets.

“It’s unfortunate that the result didn’t reflect the effort that we put in,” Kunovac said. “Our team played fairly well. I think at least today, Princeton was one level higher than us in terms of how they played today.”

While putting out some of their best effort and playing solid matches, the Quakers were simply overmatched by Princeton, the No. 32 in the nation.

Despite losing all three doubles points, Kunovac was impressed with the play of the No. 2 doubles pair of freshman Jules Rodin and sophomore Emily Wolf in an 8-4 loss to Princeton pair Blakely Ashley and Rachel Saiontz.

“I think that so far they have played their best match of the entire season,” the first-year coach said.

Senior Jacqueline Wong and junior Alexa Ely also kept pace against Hilary Bartlett and Taylor Marable, a pair ranked 20th in the nation, although in the end Wong and Ely also fell 8-4.

“Through a good part of the match, they held their own and had many chances to take the lead,” Kunovac said.

But if that was the best effort that the team has mustered thus far, trouble could be looming on the horizon.

Last season, the Quakers were also swept by Princeton. After losing four straight contests during its spring break trip, the loss to Princeton was the first of a five-match losing streak against Ivy League opponents.

However, the Quakers are thinking positively about what the future holds for them.

“This match was a really great way to start the season, because we know this is about the best we’re going to encounter in the Ivy’s. So we know that we can go on with a lot of confidence from this match knowing that we could have done better.

“I’m excited for the rest of the Ivy matches, because I think we have a lot more potential than what was actually shown in this match,” Ely said.

The Quakers will continue this year’s conference slate with a match against Brown, ranked No. 62 in the nation, on Friday.

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