SEASON PREVIEW: Young M. Tennis begins fall season

Will youth be served? That is the question facing the Penn men's tennis team this year. There will certainly be plenty of youth serving for the Quakers. Six freshmen and six sophomores fill 12 of the 16 roster spots. However, seven letterwinners return from last year's squad to add valuable experience to the young unit. Coach Gene Miller, in his third year with the Quakers, hopes to combine the promising young talent with the experienced veterans and improve on last year's mark of 14-13 for the entire year, a Quaker record for most wins in fall and spring combined. "I think we're going to do better than we did last year, which was better than the first year, so each year we've been better," Miller said. "I personally think this should be a little bit of a breakthrough year for us in that I think we'll knock some people off that maybe we haven't been able to touch before." Leading the way for the team this year will be senior captain David Nathan, described by Miller as "a quiet but very effective leader" and "a solid clutch player." Nathan finished with a 14-12 singles record last year and teamed with junior Marc Schecter to form the Quakers' top doubles team. Besides Nathan, Miller looks to Schecter and junior Neil Aaronson to lead the team. Aaronson, last year's No. 1 singles player, will have to sit out the fall season, however, after surgery for tendonitis in his left hand. After the three key veterans, the Quakers will look to some inexperienced players to provide an added spark. Any time a team has a considerable number of young players, a lack of experience can become a problem. But Miller hopes it does not work out that way. "It could be [a problem]," Miller said. "But I think they're good enough that with the experience of the others they'll be fine." And the youngsters are starting to get some experience of their own. This past weekend, Miller sent eight of his players to various tournaments across the country, for he feels that Penn's best chance to gain experience is to compete against schools from all over the country. "We're participating in the events with the big teams, and it's important for where we want to go," Miller said. "When you go up against a Notre Dame, when you go up against a Kentucky or Rice, it's no big deal when you come back and play in the league." Freshmen J.J. Cramer, Brad Goldberg and Jon Aspatore played in the Notre Dame Invitational. In their first-round match, the doubles team of Cramer and Goldberg upset the top-ranked duo from Kansas. In the second round, with Aspatore in for an injured Cramer, the Quakers went up a break in the first set before falling to the eventual champions from West Virginia. Also, Goldberg went three sets with the No. 1 player from Notre Dame before falling 6-7, 6-1, 6-1. Sophomores Roy Sehgal and Andreas Olofsson traveled to the ITA National Clay Court Championships in Jackson, Miss., to play in the pre-qualifying draw of the college Grand Slam event. Sehgal won his way into the qualifying rounds before bowing out. Also, freshmen Nikhilesh Bhattacharya and Ehren Stenzler journeyed along with sophomore Jeff Jackson to the Tim Berman Invitational at Swarthmore. As far as Miller is concerned, it is too early to tell what effect the national competition will have on the young Quakers. But he does know that it can only help them get used to collegiate competition. "I don't think we did great, I don't think we did bad. I think it's just too early to tell," Miller said. "I took six freshman and two sophomores on the road. It's a young team. They're just figuring out where their room is right now. Everything's new to them. "I sort of sent them to the wolves, but it really opens their eyes as to what the competition is out there and where we need to go." The immediate goal of the team is to prepare for the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships at Princeton on October 8-11. In Miller's first year as coach the Quakers finished 11th at the ECACs, and last year they moved up to ninth. The team is looking to again improve on that mark. After the ECACs and the slate of fall tournaments, the young team will move into the spring season with the ultimate goal of taking the Ivy League title. But that is a long way off. For now, Miller is focusing on getting the team experience. "We have a lot of young talent this year, everybody seems excited, they're working very hard, and hopefully we'll have a good season," Miller said.