ITHACA, N.Y. — Freshmen Valerie Ho and Katherine Nguyen hung tough with one of the top doubles teams in the country, but Penn won the lower two doubles matches on its way to a 5-0 victory over the Cornell women's tennis team on Friday afternoon at Reis Tennis Center.
 
It marked the 10th straight match in which Penn (13-5, 2-2 Ivy League) took the doubles point, but Ho and Nguyen were solid at the No. 1 position in their first match together since Jan. 27. Taking on the Quakers' Marija Curnic and Marta Kowalska, a tandem that boasts a 10-3 record from the top spot and is ranked 48th in the nation, Ho and Nguyen starting off by breaking serve. Another break brought the match even at 3. The teams were on serve when play was halted behind Penn victories at Nos. 2 and 3.
 
Cornell (6-13, 0-4 Ivy League) couldn't find any traction in singles. Ho, a freshman, played up to the No. 2 position for the first time this season and won four games in the first set. Penn expanded its lead to 3-0 with wins at No. 1 and at No. 5, then the other two matches in the bottom half finished within seconds of each other.

A photo gallery of Friday's match is available here.
 
The Big Red is back on the road for the last time at 1 p.m. Sunday, when it visits Ivy League-leading Princeton.
 

PENN 5, CORNELL 0

At Reis Tennis Center; Ithaca, N.Y.
Singles
1. #91 Iuliia Bryzgalova (P) def. Mariko Iinuma, 6-1, 6-2
2. Valerie Ho (C) vs. Marta Kowalska, DNF
3. Katherine Nguyen (C) vs. Ashley Zhu, DNF
3. Marija Curnic (P) def. Maria Adiaconitei, 6-2, 6-0
5. OJ Singh (P) def. Sarah Campbell, 6-3, 6-0
6. Mimi Levine (P) def. Khary Pryce, 6-1, 6-1
Doubles
1. Ho/Nguyen (C) vs. #48 Curnic/Kowalska, DNF
2. Bryzgalova/Singh (P) def. Adiaconitei/Iinuma, 6-2
3. Carolyn Xie/Zhu (P) Def. Campbell/Pryce, 6-3