Women’s tennis to serve it up against Quakers, Tigers

After its fifth straight loss in Ancient Eight competition, the women’s tennis team plans to bring in its first Ivy win this weekend. The Lions are prepared to host the Quakers on Saturday during their senior day celebration. Columbia expects a close match against Penn, as both teams hold the same 0-5 record this Ivy season. The next day, the Light Blue women travel to face the highest ranked competitor of the conference season—No. 28 Princeton—who currently boasts an undefeated Ivy record and a 18-5 record overall. Princeton will bring tougher competition as the Tigers continue to fight for the Ivy title.

This weekend will also be senior co-captain Carling Donovan’s final matches of her career as a Lion. She hopes to continue her success from last weekend’s match against Brown in which she defeated Brown’s Catherine Stewart. In the matchup, Donovan showcased her power and patience as a player, notching the only singles win as she clinched an incredibly close match.

“Carling continues to be one of our best players,” head coach Ilene Weintraub said. “And last weekend, she proved that and played a lot of great points. The match against the Brown girl was a really close one. It takes a lot of patience to win a match like that. She really stepped up and did what she needed to do.”

Donovan has worked since her freshman year to develop the skills needed to win close matches.

“Every season, Carling’s become a smarter player,” Weintraub said. “She has her own game style that she’s been developing this season. Her strength is her forehand. She likes to drive the ball hard. A couple seasons ago, if someone hit her balls with a lot of top spin, it would have given her a problem. Now, she’s able to control that more. She’s just become a smart, strategic player.”

With the help of her teammates, Donovan prepares to battle for Columbia’s first win of the Ivy season against the Quakers. This season, Penn has lost four out of five Ivy matches 7-0 and one match 6-1 to Dartmouth. Though both Columbia and Penn sit 0-5 in the Ivy season, a victory against Penn looks very promising. Unlike Penn, Columbia has been swept 7-0 only twice and has managed to keep their play close against the other Ivy competition.

“To prepare for the Penn match, we’ve been working on our consistency,” Weintraub said. “We’ve also just been having fun. We plan to go out there and give it our best. We’re taking this one match at a time, but if we’re successful against Penn, we’re going to go into the Princeton match with a lot more confidence. They are fighting for an Ivy title, so it’s a good chance to get out there against a high ranked team.”

As a whole, the Lions have improved a lot this season and plan to go out with a bang. The changes since the beginning of the season are apparent across the board. Despite the injuries and setbacks, the Lions are at the top of their game.

“Mostly, we’re a lot more unified this year,” Weintraub said. “But in terms of skill, I think every girl on the team has improved in fitness. We’re faster and stronger than we were towards the beginning of the season. All of our improvements are going to help us in these last matches. We’re going to do what we always do and take one match at a time. If we’re successful against Penn, we’ll soar into the Princeton match with a lot more confidence and show them what we can do.”