W. Tennis looks for first Ivy win

After two straight losing seasons, being the underdog can get old fast.

But the women’s tennis team will shed that moniker today when it heads to New York to face Columbia, where it will have an opportunity to gain its first conference win this season.

After losing their first five Ivy games, Penn (4-13, 0-5 Ivy) enters the contest in the same spot it was in last season, when Penn beat the Lions, 7-0.

Columbia has also yet to win a conference match, so the two teams seem to be more evenly matched than other Ivy League opponents — four of which are ranked among the top 65 teams in the nation.

The Red and Blue also have history on their side. In the teams’ past seven meetings, Columbia has not managed to best the Quakers once.

Yet knowing that the Lions are beatable won’t change how the Quakers approach this match. Head coach Sanela Kunovac has told her players to “approach [the match] with the same level of focus and intensity” that they would any other match.

While a win at Columbia could keep the Quakers from finishing last in the conference, it wouldn’t completely offset the team’s misfortunes.

Since Penn has been dealing with the difficulties of injuries, a relatively young roster and three head coaches in the past three seasons, a solid showing against the Lions would be a step in the right direction.

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