M. Tennis surprises Navy at Annapolis

Fanda Stejskal led the Penn surge by upsetting the region's top player, Michell Koch. The Penn men's tennis team gave Navy a salute of its own in Annapolis, Md., yesterday, sinking the Midshipmen, 5-2, to claim its third straight victory. Finding themselves down 1-0 after being handily swept by Navy (10-9) in doubles play, the Quakers (8-7) recomposed themselves in their six singles matches. Led by Fanda Stejskal's straight-set victory over Navy's Mitchell Koch -- the top-ranked singles player in the region -- and freshman Ryan Harwood's come-from-behind win over Midshipmen senior Joe McCauley, the Quakers conceded only one additional point in their successful upset bid. And with Ivy League play to begin this weekend at home against Princeton, Penn co-captain Eric Sobotka said his team's tenacity against Navy should be a warning sign for the Tigers. "We were pesky," said Sobotka, who easily won his singles match, 6-2, 6-0. "That's something that's really important, not just the fact that we beat Navy, but it was the way we beat them. That really shows that we're really ready for Princeton." Penn's peskiness was shown by Quakers ace Stejskal in his No. 1 singles match against Koch. After having fallen 8-3 in doubles play with partner Sobotka against the Navy pairing of Koch and Jim McHugh, Stejskal again found himself down to Koch early in his first singles set, 2-0. "He was a little tense," Penn coach Gordie Ernst said of Stejskal, who is ranked ninth in the region. "But then Fanda said, 'Hold on a second, I'm as good as this guy. Let me just get going, let me just get my feel.' All he did was just settle down, and then [Koch] kind of folded." Koch's fold resulted in a 6-1 rally for Stejskal to win the first set, 6-3, but Navy's top player quickly popped back into his regular form. Almost to show that the first set had been nothing more than a fluke, Koch used his strong forehand to vault himself into a commanding, 3-1 lead in the second set. Stejskal found himself desperately needing something to shift the momentum into his favor. It came from a mishit ball bouncing in from another game. "A ball rolled on the court just as Koch was about to put the ball away," Ernst said. "The umpire called [it], and it really disrupted him. He probably would have gone up 4-1 at that point, [but] he let that get to him." Instead, Stejskal turned around to claim the set, 6-4, and win his 18th match of the year in what he said was not even close to his best performance. "I don't feel like I played my best game today," the Prague native said. "But it's nice to know that I beat the best player [in the region] even if I didn't play too well." Ernst said that Stejskal's upset win over the region's No. 1 player was important not only for the Quakers' top player, but for the team as well. "They see that our guy beat the best player in the region, and it gives them confidence," Ernst said. One of Stejskal's teammates who seemed positively affected by the sophomore's victory was Harwood. While Stejskal was finishing off Koch, Harwood simultaneously took a 6-1 thrashing in the first set from Navy's Joe McCauley. McCauley's domination of the Penn freshman elicited loud cheers from the Midshipmen seated in the stands nearby. "He was on fire, that guy, and he was playing to the crowd," Sobotka said. "It was a harsh crowd out there. Those Navy guys, they don't have a lot to do, just row their boats or whatever, so they were pretty pumped." Despite facing a one-set deficit and a hard-blowing wind that sent the ball flying unpredictably, Harwood showed composure going into the second set. The tactic worked, and Harwood took the second set, 7-5, after battling serve for serve with McCauley. And after continuing some back-and-forth play with the Navy senior, Harwood went on a 4-0 run to win the final set, 6-2.