Penn women's tennis cant handle Tigers onslaught in Ivy opener

Hoping to defy expectations and win its first match of Ivy play this season, the outgunned Penn women’s tennis team instead lost in predictable fashion to a rival squad.

Last Saturday, the Quakers traveled through the downpour of rain to take on No. 66 Princeton on its own courts, ultimately losing to the Tigers, 5-2.

Though Penn (7-5, 0-1 Ivy) captured two doubles wins behind the pairs of senior Stephanie Do and junior Alexandra Ion along with freshman Kana Daniel and junior Sol Eskenazi to secure the doubles point for the Red and Blue, the Tigers (12-5, 1-0) were a resilient bunch and proved insurmountable in singles play.

“[Princeton’s] performance was very impressive because of how quickly they shook off the doubles point defeat and pressed the reset button,” coach Sanela Kunovac said. “Typically, when you have that type of doubles victory that we had, it carries over into a few games and gives you a head start. They were able to really break that quickly.”

Indeed, Princeton took five of the six singles matches to deal a quick blow against the Quakers.

Only sophomore Sonya Latycheva was able to notch a singles victory for Penn, 7-6, 6-2.

The Tigers didn’t drop a set in four of Princeton’s five singles wins, putting the Quakers down and out early.

But the top-billed match of the day produced the biggest thrills, though Penn would come up short there as well.

Eskenazi and Princeton junior Lindsay Graff — a first-team All-Ivy selection last year — duked it out in an epic battle at first singles. Gripping and hard-fought, the third-set tiebreaker fell in Graff’s favor, 11-9.

Even in defeat, the Quakers could appreciate the competition between the two rival stars.

“[It] was a tremendous display of athleticism, will, desire and heart from both sides,” Kunovac said. “They were separated by one point the whole time and it really came down to the wire. If someone came and wanted to watch a high quality match, I think it was one of the highest quality matches today across women’s college tennis.

“We definitely spent everything we had and we left it all out on the court. We’re feeling a little bit empty, just because we gave it all. But we’re walking out of their facilities with no regrets.”

With little time to dwell in the past, the Quakers have no choice but to keep their heads up and their spirits high as they hit the road on Friday to face Brown in Providence, R.I.

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