Beginning the match at 2-1 in Ivy League play, Penn women's tennis was determined to walk away from the courts this weekend with wins against Columbia and Cornell in their quest to the Ivy League Tournament.
The team was successful against Columbia but struggled to match the Big Red’s energy. To start the weekend, in a hard fought battle, Penn prevailed against Columbia with the resulting score of 4-3.
The doubles matches did not go as planned with two losses for the Quakers. The first doubles match, played by seniors Sabine Rutlauka and Eileen Wang, however, exemplified composure throughout a tough match, eventually winning 6-3 in a single set. The second match struggled to keep up with Columbia’s quick feet and strategic formations on the court — leading to a quick loss at 6-1. The third and final match — played by junior Maya Urata and freshman Lara Stojanovski — maintained an intense back-and-forth on the court, but eventually Columbia pulled through for a 6-3 win.
Shifting to the singles battles tensions were running in the stands, as advocates for both teams cheered fervently. With the doubles win in their pocket, Columbia’s Lions faced the court with confidence, only to quickly lose to Urata who dominated the court with a 6-3, 6-0 win. This tied the match at 1-1.
Sophomore Esha Velaga followed up her teammate’s win with another two-set success, which gave Penn the lead. Fighting back, Columbia tied the score again with a straight-set win against Wang.
In the most striking match of all, Rutlauka led a tense three-set battle. In the end, it came down to a battle of the mind. While Columbia’s Gayathri Krishnan took the first set, Rutlauka regained confidence and took the second set, but fell 6-2 in the third and final set.
On another court nearby, however, Stojanovski made a great comeback from her first set loss, winning in a three-set battle with her endurance and composure against Columbia’s Sophia Wang. After losing the first set in a tiebreaker, she was able to completely turn the match on its head, taking the next two sets 6-2, 6-3.
“I actually love playing third sets. [I like the intensity of] who's gonna get that win? … I mean, losing the first set 7-6, when I was leading 5-4, was kind of painful, but I kind of felt my game was going in the right direction of going to that win, so I felt pretty comfortable,” Stojanovski said.
With the scores 3-3 between the Quakers and Lions, all eyes went to senior Gavriella Smith. The players appeared evenly matched, leading to a tiebreaker in the first set of 10-8, giving Smith the lead. Columbia's Emily Baek made a comeback in the second set — winning 6-4. This motivated Smith to fight back for not only her win but Penn’s win as well. By capitalizing on Baek’s errors, and keeping her cool, Smith won the match in a long-winded set of 7-5. In celebration of the Quaker victory, the players ran to their teammate and embraced her on the court as cheers echoing from the stands could be heard in celebration.
The Quakers then headed for Ithaca, N.Y. to face Cornell. Unlike the tight back and forth against the Lions, Penn was unable to find their footing in upstate New York, where Cornell won the match 4-1.
Again, the doubles matches didn’t go favorably, with team of Urata and Velaga going down quickly. Soon after, Smith and Stojanovski lost to opponents Alexandra Savu and Emma Baker. This secured the doubles point for Cornell, halting Wang and Rutlauka’s tight match at 5-5.
Singles play also got off to a rough start for the Red and Blue, as Cornell was up by a set in two matches by the 25-minute mark. As the matches approached an hour, Stojanovski lost the second set of her match 6-3 after dropping the first set 6-2, adding another point to the Big Red’s tally.
However, this loss was swiftly followed by a strong comeback win by Velaga. After a close start in the first set, she battled to win 7-5, and then kept the momentum going to quickly finish the match with a 6-2 victory in the second set.
As the score sat at 2-1 with Cornell in the lead, Smith, Rutlauka, and Wang were all headed for a deciding third set. Meanwhile, Urata was approaching a tiebreaker in the second set. After losing the first set 6-1, she fought back in the second to 6-6, but ran out of steam in the tiebreaker, losing 7-3. Her loss widened the gap between the teams once again, taking it to 3-1.
Finally, it was all down to the three matches and their third sets. The question always is, who will win faster? On Sunday, the answer was Cornell.
Despite her strong comeback to take the second set after losing the first, Rutlauka was unable to keep pushing for the win, losing the third set 6-2. This loss gave Cornell their fourth point, securing their victory.
"Bringing that win [against Columbia] was really special, … and then losing against Cornell was really painful yesterday," Stojanovski reflected on the weekend, "[Cornell] came out and they really came out with tennis. It's just really unfortunate that we ended that way. But, I mean, everyone fought really hard.”
Now at a 3-2 conference record, the team is focused on next weekend, where they face Brown and Yale in back-to-back home matches. With an overall home record of 9-2, the atmosphere at Hamlin/Hecht Tennis Centers could help the team bring in two more wins to end the season on a high note.
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