PHILADELPHIA— The University of Pennsylvania women's tennis team stunned No. 69 Columbia by winning their match, 4-3.
With the win, the Quakers move to 10-8 on the season with a 3-1 conference record. They now are tied for second place with No. 63 Yale in the Ivy League standings.
The nationally ranked Lions opened the match strong, securing the doubles point after splitting 2-1 with Penn. Moving into the singles portion of the match, both sides were tested early as three of the six matches needed tiebreakers to determine the winner. Maya Urata leveled the team's score, 1-1, after winning her match in two straight sets. No. 116 Esha Velaga quickly doubled Penn's lead, 2-1, after a two-set win of her own. Columbia's Winta Tewolde evened the score at two all, and Gayathri Krishnan put the Lions ahead 3-2 with her win. All eyes fell on courts two and five, both matches being pushed to a third set.
Lara Stojanovski, playing in the third spot, squared off against Sophia Wang on court five. Falling in the tiebreaker of set one, Stojanovski dominated set two to push a third set. After almost two and a half hours of play, Stojanovski topped Wang in set three, 6-3, to tie the match for the third time this afternoon.
On court two, Gavriella Smith earned a 7-6 win in the first set after a 10-8 tiebreaker victory playing in the fifth spot. Dropping set number two to Emily Baek, Smith started to pull away in the third set (4-1), but not before Baek battled back to push the third set to extra points. From five-all, Smith capitalized on mistakes by Baek to win the third set, 7-5 and win the match for her team. The girls rushed the courts, embracing in a group hug as they celebrated moving to 3-1 in conference play.
Final: Penn 4, Columbia 3
Doubles:
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Sabine Rutlauka/Eileen Wang (P) def. Gayathri Krishnan/Sophia Strugnell (C), 6-3
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Fatima Keita/Winta Tewolde (C) def. Gavriella Smith/Esha Velaga (P), 6-1
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Emily Baek/Sophia Wang (C) def. Maya Urata/Lara Stojanovski (P), 6-3
Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3*
Singles:
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Gayathri Krishnan (C) def. No. 72 Sabine Rutlauka (P), 6-1, 4-6, 6-2
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No. 116 Esha Velaga (P) def. Fatima Keita (C), 6-3, 7-5
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Lara Stojanovski (P) def. Sophia Wang (C), 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 6-3
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Winta Tewolde (C) def. Eileen Wang (P), 7-6 (7-4), 6-3
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Gavriella Smith (P) def. Emily Baek (C), 7-6 (10-8), 4-6, 7-5
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Maya Urata (P) def. Salma Farhat (C), 6-3, 6-0
Order of Finish: 6, 2, 4, 1, 3, 5*
Up Next
The Quakers will travel to Ithaca, N.Y. to battle Cornell on Sunday, April 13 at 1 p.m.
Penn vs. Cornell (10-7)
Sunday, April 13, 2025 | 1 p.m.
Reis Tennis Center | Ithaca, N.Y.
Watch
For the latest on Penn women's tennis, follow @PennWomensTennis on Instagram, @PennWTennis on X (formerly Twitter), and on the web at PennAthletics.com.
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