No. 55 Women's Hosts Penn, No. 49 Princeton for Weekend Matches

Samantha Rosekrans and the Crimson will look to stay unbeaten in Ivy play this weekend (Gil Talbot).

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The No. 55 Harvard women’s tennis team kicks off the second weekend of Ivy League play hosting Penn No. 49 Princeton in noon matchups Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

About Harvard
After a slow start to the 2011 spring season, the No. 55 Crimson are winners of four straight heading into the match against the Quakers. 

Harvard opened Ivy League play last weekend with a 7-0 trouncing of Cornell, followed by a 6-1 defeat of Columbia.

Five Crimson currently hold records above .500 in singles play. Holly Cao paces Harvard with an 11-0 record, while  Kristin Norton (9-4), Hideko Tachibana (8-4), Natalie Blosser (6-5) and Hannah Morrill (3-2) have all won more than have of their singles matches.

Norton and Tachibana have been the most consistent doubles pair for the Crimson, playing to a 6-3 record as Harvard’s top doubles duo. Cao and Morrill have paired for a 4-0 record this spring, while Blosser and Samantha Rosekrans are 3-0 when playing together.

About Penn
The Quakers are 6-11 and losers of their last three matches heading into weekend matches against Harvard and Dartmouth. Penn has opened Ancient Eight play with home losses to No. 49 Princeton, No. 35 Yale and No. 43 Brown.

The Quakers are led by No. 23 Connie Hsu who holds a 16-0 record in spring duals. Hsu downed two Crimson in fall tournaments, defeating Tachibana at the William & Mary Invitational and Blosser at the ITA Northeast Regional tournament. 

Hsu has partnered with Alexa Ely for a 10-1 doubles record in 2011, including winning their last four matches. 

About Princeton
The Tigers enter the match with the Crimson ranked 49th in the nation. Princeton holds a 9-8, 2-1 Ivy record, heading into weekend road matches against Dartmouth and Harvard.

Princeton has opened Ivy play with wins over Penn and No. 35 Yale sandwiched around a loss to No. 43 Brown.  Rachel Saiontz is currently 3-0 through her first three Ivy matches this season. As the Tigers No. 2, Saiontz opened with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Jamie Yapp-Shing from Penn and followed with straight-set victories over Bianca Aboubakare from Brown and Elizabeth Epstein of Yale.