Trying to gain recognition in this Penn sports world dominated by the basketball and football squads, the men's tennis team season began February 5 against Maryland and Pittsburgh. Penn cruised to two easy victories. The Terps barely put up a fight as the Quakers whitewashed them, 6-1. The Panthers then proved even less of a challenge. They did not win a single match in the Quakers' 7-0 shutout. How overmatched were Penn's unfortunate foes? The Quakers dropped only three of 26 sets as they won 13 of 14 matches. "This weekend we really just wanted to get some match play," Penn senior captain David Nathan said. "We wanted to get used to playing in competition again. We pretty much went out and did what we expected." · Penn's next test will come this weekend at the Princeton Invitational, an individual competition which does not count for the Quakers' record. So only three Quakers will make the trek across the New Jersey border -- Nathan, senior Marc Schecter and freshman J.J. Cramer. However, the real goal of the Princeton Invitational is for the Quakers to continue preparation for their first team competition, the following weekend on Penn's Levy Courts. "We're really looking ahead as a team to our own tournament," Nathan said. "We've been gearing toward it, and all the other matches are just preparation for it." Either way, this weekend will be a great test of the Quakers' talent. Penn will face a plethora of strong opponents at Princeton.
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