The women's tennis team traveled to Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania this weekend in the hopes of drawing some blood from its Ivy League rivals. However, the Bears could not muster any strength against the Tigers and the Quakers, and both opponents swept Brown, 7-0. Bruno's record now stands 0-3 in league play and 5-11 overall.
Assistant Coach Cecily Dubusker said she was disappointed with the weekend's results. She attributed her team's lackluster performance largely to low morale.
"The results are much lower than we are capable of," she said. "We are a young and inexperienced team, and we are battling injuries, but we are not letting excuses get in our way ... We have issues with belief. We need to continue to work on competitiveness and not fall into resignation."
The Bears faced Princeton on Friday and did not put up much of a fight. In singles play, every player lost in straight sets except rookie Emily Ellis '10 at fifth position. Ellis dropped the first set against Sarah Huah, 6-4, but fought back to take the second set, 7-5. However, she could not close out the match, losing the tie-break, 1-0 (14-12).
Her teammates also struggled through their matches, with Michelle Pautler '07 falling to Melissa Saiontz 6-4, 6-2 at number one singles and Daisy Ames '07 losing to Ivana King, 6-2, 6-1, at number two singles. At third singles, Princeton's Darcy Robertson defeated Sara Mansur '09 6-4, 6-4, while Blakely Ashley dismissed Bruno's Alexa Baggio '09 6-3, 6-1, at fourth singles. At fifth singles, Tanja Vucetic '10 lost 6-0, 6-1 to Kelly Stewart.
Kathrin Sorokko '10 and Brett Finkelstein '09 produced the Bears' best performance in doubles play. The duo won their match against Ashley and Kristen Scott, 8-6, at third doubles. At first doubles, Pautler and Mansur could not muster a winning game, losing 8-0 to King and Saiontz. Kelley Kirkpatrick '08 and Ellis lost at second doubles to Huah and Robertson, 8-3.
Princeton's victory over Brown was the Tigers' first league win. Princeton now stands 1-2 in league play.
On Saturday, the sun did not shine on the Bears either. In singles play, Penn swept every Brown player in straight sets. With their victory over Brown, the Quakers improved to a perfect 3-0 league record.
The Bears knew they had their work cut out for them entering the match, as Penn is the strongest team in the Ivy League, according to Pautler. "It was hard to come off of a 7-0 loss to Princeton and be excited for the match (against Penn)," she said. "We could have used some more energy."
But Pautler felt the team put up a good fight against the talented Quakers.
"We were very much the underdog. Two girls on the Penn team are from the (Women's Tennis Association)," she said. "Our general goal was to let them beat us and not us beating ourselves. We wanted to make fewer errors and not give them free points. I think we did that."
In singles play, Mansur had the closest match for the Bears. She almost won her first set at third singles, but ended up losing the match 7-6, 6-1 to the Quakers' Yulia Rivelis. At first singles, Pautler fell to Ekaterina Kosminskaya 6-1, 6-3 and at number two singles, Ames lost to Julia Koulbitskaya 6-2, 6-2. Finkelstein took a shot at Lenka Snajdrova at third singles, but was defeated, 6-1, 6-4. Penn's Charlotte Tansill defeated Ellis, 6-0, 6-2 at fifth singles and Tansill's teammate, Lauren Sadaka, dismissed Sorokko, 6-3, 6-0 at sixth singles.
Teaming up for doubles did not help Bruno's battle against Penn. Pautler and Mansur were close to earning a win but were unable to achieve a victory, falling 8-6 to Snajdrova and Rivelis at first singles.
"We played a good match and worked hard," Pautler said about her doubles match with Mansur. "We played smart and played out of our comfort zone. We adapted well despite the loss. We did what we wanted to do."
At second singles, the duo of Kirkpatrick and Ellis lost 8-1 to Kosminskaya and Koulbitskaya. Finkelstein and Sorokko were overwhelmed by Amanda Avedissian and Tansill, falling 8-1.
The Bears will try to bounce back from the dismal weekend and gain an Ivy win this weekend. Brown will play host to Cornell at 2 p.m. on Friday and will take on Columbia at noon on Saturday. Both Cornell and Columbia will be worthy opponents, but the Bears hope playing on their own territory will give them the advantage.
While the team is excited to battle Columbia because both teams have a historic rivalry, Brown must not forget about Cornell. The Big Red is traditionally an automatic win for many teams, but Dubusker said Cornell is a much-improved squad and will not be a pushover this weekend.
Dubusker feels the success of the team lies in a change in its current attitude.
"We need to think, 'We are the better team today,'" she said. "Anything can happen on any given day. We can't let our past results predict our future results."
Despite the tough weekend, Brown hopes to defeat its opponents next weekend.
"We're not a team full of ex-pros or full of superstars," she continued. "But we're a team that can surprise people."
