Penn women’s tennis played back-to-back road conference matches against Dartmouth and Harvard this week. The Quakers defeated the Big Green (4-1) on Saturday, but fell to the Crimson on Sunday (4-0), leaving them 2-1 in conference play, and 9-8 for their overall season record. This currently puts them in a four-way tie for second place with Brown, Columbia, and Yale in Ivy League conference standings.
The Red and Blue started the double-match weekend in Hanover, N.H., against Dartmouth. Penn won two out of three doubles games to quickly clinch the first point of the day, with sophomore Esha Velaga and junior Maya Urata taking a 6-4 win, sophomore Sasha Motlagh and senior Gavriella Smith winning 6-3, while senior double’s pairing Eileen Wang and Sabine Rutlauka lost 6-2.
“We came out really strong, starting from the first point in doubles," Urata said. "We had some really great wins, even though those weren’t easy matches necessarily."
The momentum continued with the singles matches.
“Most of the courts dominated in the first sets, despite [Dartmouth] having a few really strong, standout players,” Urata said.
Eileen Wang made quick work of her match, defeating Dartmouth’s Elizabeth Fahrmeier 6-4, 6-0, taking the win in straight sets.
“What made the difference for me between having a close first set to the second set was stubbornness to stick with a winning strategy," Wang said. “I tried to hunker down and keep fighting.”
Gavriella Smith dropped the opening set 6-4, but rallied back, bageling her opponent 6-0 in the second set and managed to finish the match strong by taking the third set 6-2. Freshman Lara Stojanovski battled a tough loss 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 to Dartmouth's Laura Han, while Maya Urata won her match in straight sets 6-3, 6-1, allowing Penn to win the overall conference game with a final score of 4-1.
Continuing their match weekend, the Quakers travelled to Cambridge to play against Harvard. Despite the fact that they had two conference matches in a row, the Quakers were ready.
“I think our win on Saturday, which was not necessarily an easy one, prepared us even better to play Harvard on Sunday,” Urata said.
The day started with Harvard winning the doubles point, giving them an edge early on. Senior duo Sabine Rutlauka and Eileen Wang lost 6-4, Gavriella Smith and Sasha Motlagh lost 6-0, while Maya Urata and Esha Velaga won 6-3.
“The doubles point was crucial in both matches; we would have been able to see out the last three singles matches that were unfinished," Wang said.
However, one standout performance of the weekend was the pairing of Velaga and Urata, who played formidably to win their doubles games on both days.
“We know each other's games really well. We were able to rely on what we know about each other and just have that trust in one another to be able to score those two wins on the board,” said Urata.
Penn faced a few difficult opponents on the singles courts as well, with Harvard’s Kavya Karra defeating Maya Urata 6-0, 7-5. Gavriella Smith and Lara Stojanovski also lost 6-4, 6-1 and 6-3, 7-5, respectively, ultimately resulting in Harvard winning the conference match with a score of 4-0.
The Quakers are determined to give their best effort for the upcoming matches.
“Going into Friday against Columbia at home, I think we’ve trained well," Urata said. "I’m confident we can take what we’ve learned and convert it into a win at home."
Penn Tennis is set to face Columbia in the Hamlin/Hecht Tennis Center on Friday, April 11th.
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