JULIA TIERNAN/YH After four wins, women's basketball is cruising.

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"We have more confidence now," starting point guard Jamie Riposta, JE '02, said. "We know what it feels like to win." That feeling was missing a few weeks ago, when the team was 2-11 and winless in the Ivies. After completing a season sweep of Brown on Fri., Jan. 29 with a 67-52 victory and then recording a 58-50 win over Navy, the Elis are brimming with confidence. "As a team, we're just playing together more now," forward Maria Smear, SM '03, said.

They'll need to play together to defeat Pennsylvania on Fri., Feb. 4. The Quakers are 3-0 in the league and boast the second-leading scorer in the NCAA, Diana Caramanico '01. Last week, Caramanico had 39 rebounds in Penn wins over Cornell and Columbia. For the year, she has averaged 25.1 points and 11.7 boards a game. "It'd be a huge upset for us," Smear said.

After Penn, the Elis face Princeton (3-14, 0-3 Ivy) on Sat., Feb. 5. If Yale's freshmen continue their stellar play, the Elis can pull off the weekend sweep. Smear notched 32 points in the wins over Brown and Navy, while forward Helene Schu-trumpf, BK '03, scored 15 points and grabbed seven boards in only 19 minutes at Navy. "Alyson [Miller, JE '01] and Meg [Simpson, SY '02] have controlled the rebounds, and that allows us to fast break," Smear said. "Helene and I get most of our points on the break."

Team defense will be crucial this weekend. The Elis held Navy to 32.8 percent shooting. When they defend well, they create rebounds off missed shots and have more opportunities to get out and run the break. In the end, however, it may come down to maintaining concentration for the entire game. "We've been struggling with playing well for all 40 minutes," Schutrumpf said. "If we play hard, we'll definitely be in the game." —Joey Ax

WOMEN'S TENNIS
Eli tennis squad lacks numbers, but swimming in talent

Good things come in small packages, or so the women's tennis team hopes. With only nine players on this year's roster, the team is one of the smallest in the league. But despite their size, the team presents a balanced attack and expects a strong showing in the upcoming spring season.

The short roster is a double-edged sword. While the squad has had to deal with personnel shortages from injury—Lauren Muehl, CC '01, has been sidelined with a stress fracture and captain Jacklyn Fu, MC '00, has been out, but hopes to play in upcoming matches—their reduced numbers have kept the team together and focused. "We are more driven as it has become more important to keep in shape," Fu said. "We are definitely the closest team I have been on at Yale."

For the Bulldogs, the short bench has not translated into a talent shortage. Instead, it has fostered more intense competition. Only two of the six singles spots have been decided and the remaining seven players all have a fair shot at the openings. This depth will be vital in matches against tough Ivy League opponents such as Harvard and Princeton.

The team will not see an Ivy opponent until after spring break, however, and until then will play a series of exhibitions. In the first of these, the Elis took on nationally-ranked teams Notre Dame and Michigan on Sat., Jan. 29 and Sun., Jan. 30. While they lost both matches, the team was happy with the performance. "We all had close matches that we could feel happy about," Kirsten Gross, DC '00, said. "We weren't expected to win, but it was fun to play and be in their facilities."

"We need to play good opponents to improve," Fu said. "After this, we can go into the season competitive. No other team will be this good." This type of confidence will be invaluable when the squad faces Massachusetts on Fri., Feb. 4. But it remains to be seen if the Elis can truly stack up against the rest of the country. —David Lisson

FENCING
Temporary setbacks

Men's and women's fencing teams at Yale have traditionally been among the nation's elite. In 1998, each team finished at No. 5 in the country. This season has been no exception—both teams raced out of the gates, compiling 4-0 records to start the year. By the end of last weekend, however, after matches against national powerhouses Pennsylvania and St. John's, both teams were left with tarnished records and bruised spirits.

The men had to compete against Penn without team captain Ayo Griffin, SM '00, the 1998 National Champion in the foil, two-time All-American, and three-time All-Ivy, who was recovering from the flu. The team could not overcome Griffin's absence, losing 2-7 in the foil and dropping the meet 12-15. Griffin felt that missing the Penn match was the "most upsetting thing that's happened so far this season." Griffin competed the next day versus St. John's but the Bulldogs could not weather the Red Storm, losing 8-19.

The women's team had more success against Penn, winning 17-10. The saber triumverate of Helen Liu, MC '02, Wyley Proctor, CC '02, and Sophie Jones, DC '03, led the team with a combined 8-1 tally. However, the women ran up against St. John's, losing 15-12. "[St. John's] has some serious foreign talent," Appel said.

Both teams will face their next test on Sat., Feb. 12 against Columbia, the premier squad in the Ivy League. "It's still a possibility that we'll win the Ivies, but it's going to be difficult," Griffin said.

—Ben Reiter

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