The University of Pennsylvania women’s tennis team will begin its 2025-26 season at the Tribe Invitational, hosted by the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. The event is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday and marks the 30th edition of the tournament.
Participating teams include William and Mary, Richmond, East Carolina, James Madison, and South Florida. Matches will be held at both the McCormack-Nagelsen Center and the Mackesy Tennis Center at the Millie West Courts. The format features two rounds of singles on Saturday followed by a round of doubles, with two rounds of doubles and one round of singles on Sunday.
Junior Esha Velaga starts the year ranked No. 78 in ITA Tennis singles rankings, which is currently the highest in the Ivy League. Velaga has also qualified for the main draw of the 2025 ITA All-American Championships in Cary, North Carolina.
Three Penn players—Maya Urata (No. 4), Esha Velaga (No. 2), and Lara Stojanovski (No. 13)—were listed among last year’s top 20 in ITA regional singles rankings. The doubles team of Velaga and Stojanovski was ranked No. 7 regionally. Last season’s team finished fourth among the top ten regional teams as ranked by ITA Tennis.
This year’s freshman class includes Joleen Saw, who was ranked No. 2 in Malaysia, and Varsha Vedula, a five-star recruit previously ranked No. 3 in North Carolina.
At their previous appearance at the Tribe Invitational in 2023, Velaga won first place in her bracket while teammates Liza Tkachenko and Sasha Motlagh each claimed opening-round victories.
Saturday’s matches will feature Penn athletes across all draws: Esha Velaga faces Kim Auerswald (East Carolina) at 9 a.m., Lara Stojanovski plays Brooklyn Hoffman (James Madison), Sasha Motlagh meets Lainey O’Neil (Richmond), Maya Urata takes on Corinna Reitmann (James Madison), Joleen Saw opposes Rebeka Svabikova (William & Mary), Liza Tkachenko competes against Amy Walsh (Richmond) at 10 a.m., Sarah Wang faces Margherita Marcon (South Florida) at 10:15 a.m., and Varsha Vedula plays Ivona Savekova (East Carolina) at 10:30 a.m.
Doubles matches begin at 2:30 p.m., with pairings including Velaga/Saw versus Kernagis/Gonzales-Galino (William & Mary); Stojanovski/Motlagh against O’Neil/Barbulescu (Richmond); Urata/Tkachenko facing Munteanu/Reitmann (James Madison); and Wang/Vedula taking on Falster/Vargas (South Florida).
Sunday’s schedule features doubles semifinals and finals starting at 10 a.m., followed by singles semifinals from 11:30 a.m., with finals set for early afternoon.
“Junior Esha Velaga earned No. 78 in the ITA Tennis singles rankings to start the year, the highest in the Ivy League.”
“Velaga qualified for the main draw of the 2025 ITA All-American Championships in Cary, N.C.”
“Three current Quakers (Maya Urata (#4), Esha Velaga (#2), and Lara Stojanovski (#13) landed in the top 20 in singles and the pairing of Velaga and Stojanovski (#7) landed in the top ten in doubles in the ITA regional rankings last year.”
“Last year’s team ranked fourth out of the top ten teams in the region by ITA Tennis.”
“The Quakers incoming freshman class includes Joleen Saw, the No. 2 ranked player in Malaysia, and Varsha Vedula, a five-star recruit who was ranked No. 3 in North Carolina.”
“The last time the team competed in the Tribe Invitational in 2023, Velaga took first place in the Green bracket, Liza Tkachenko won her first-round match in the Grey bracket, and Sasha Motlagh won her first match in the Silver bracket.”
