PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania women's tennis will be well represented in West Point at the ITA Super Regionals Oct. 20-23 as Gavriella Smith and Esha Velaga have been selected to represent the Quakers.
 
Velaga is having a stellar start to her Penn career with 8-1 doubles and 9-1 singles records. In her collegiate debut at the Penn Invitational, she went 4-0 against Temple, Penn State, and LIU. Velaga grabbed first place in the green bracket at the Tribe Invitational hosted by William & Mary back on Sept. 17 after posting a 7-5, 6-0 win over Ines Bachir of ECU. At the Cissie Leary Invitational hosted at the Hamlin and Hecht Tennis Courts last weekend, the freshman won her singles matchup against Delaware's Alina Vasilenko (6-1, 6-1) and her doubles match with Eileen Wang and Maya Urata against South Florida's Nadja Bay Christians and Marta Falceto Font (6-2), Drexel's Lorie Lemongo and Renata Lombere (6-2), and the Blue Hens' Vasilenko and Paulina Jurcowska (7-6). 
 
Smith opened her 2023 fall campaign going 4-0, just like Velaga at the Penn Invite. The junior won both of the Quakers' Power 5 victories during the Cissie Leary Invite, stealing a 6-0, 6-2 singles victory over Anastasia Sysoeva and 6-4 doubles win with Liza Tkachenko against Sysoeva and Polina Kozyreva of Syracuse. Smith heads to Cary, N.C., this weekend to compete in the ITA All-American Championships starting on Sept. 30.
 
Smith and Velaga await the conclusion of the ITA Northeast Regionals hosted by Columbia on Oct. 6-8 to see if any other Quakers will join them in West Point for the ITA Super Regionals.