PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania women's tennis team excelled in this weekend's Cissie Leary Memorial Invitational, placing both Iuliia Bryzgalova and Ashley Zhu in the final of the Flight A Singles draw.

FULL RESULTS

Bryzgalova, by virtue of a coin toss between her and Zhu, captured the Cissie Leary title for the second straight year, becoming just the third player – and only Quaker – to win back-to-back singles titles.

En route to the finals, Bryzgalova defeated William & Mary's Mila Saric 6-4, 6-2, Penn State's Shannon Hanley 6-2, 6-1 and then Columbia's Akanksha Bhan 6-4, 6-0. Zhu beat Penn State's Sydney Weinberg 6-2, 6-1 and then the tournament's top seed Jennifer Kerr of Columbia 6-4, 6-1 before taking out Columbia's Shivani Amineni 6-3, 6-1.

Also in the top flight, freshman Sonia Tartakovsky heartbreakingly fell in the second round to Columbia's Melissa Sakar in a third-set tiebreak.

In doubles, Bryzgalova teamed up with junior Marija Curnic to reach the final of the top flight. On the way to the final, they beat teams from Fordham, Temple and Delaware, but fell 7-6 (3) to Drexel's top group. Zhu and freshman Gibson Thomas won three matches to win the top flight back draw.

Thomas excelled in the Flight B singles draw, moving into the semifinals after wins over players from Drexel, PSU and William & Mary. Jennifer Richards also won two matches, beating players from Drexel and Fordham.

In Flight B doubles, Tartakovsky and Carolyn Xie won a match but fell in the semifinal.

#FightOnPenn