M. Tennis has plenty of youth

"Without a doubt it's a positive," freshman J.J Cramer said without hesitation in reference to the youth of Penn men's tennis team. And who could argue with him. Despite the team's inexperience -- five of the eight varsity players are freshman or sophomores -- and an epidemic of injuries, the Quakers have gotten off to a strong start, going 7-3 since they resumed playing tennis in early February. The team is extremely talented, but whether sharp skills will be able to overcome inexperience, tough competition and the players peculiar knack for getting injured remains to be seen. The Quakers certainly have confidence in their abilities, and expect a lot from themselves. To a player, their goal is to make the NCAAs, a seemingly tough task considering Penn's eighth-place finish in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Championships in the fall. But the Quakers believe they are tough enough to make it. "We have some of the best athletes in the Ivies," sophomore Roy Sehgal said. "The best fighters, and I think that will carry us forward." It will have to carry them past eighth place all the way to fourth to make the NCAAs. Much like the NCAA basketball tournaments, a selection committee decides which four teams from the East -- designated as Region I -- will go to the Big Dance. In order to impress the NCAA bureaucrats, the Quakers traveled 3,000 miles west to battle top 100-ranked competition at San Diego's invite. The result: one win and three losses. "We went to the West coast and faced four tough teams," Miller said. "To beat any one of those teams would be pretty good. The guys rallied together and started to really peak." Several players were injured, including senior captain David Nathan. In fact, many of the Quakers have some sort of nagging injuries. The coaching staff is befuddled to explain this phenomenon, except to say some of the players came into Penn with pre-existing conditions. Before the West coast swing, the team had a very impressive six-game winning streak including a victory over highly touted George Washington. GW, which was then ranked No. 4, will be one of the teams gunning for the four elusive NCAA spots from Region I. · Penn has a dual match against West Virginia and St. Joseph's noon today at Levy Pavilion. West Virginia, ranked No. 3 in the region, will be Penn's other prime non-Ivy competition for the NCAA spots. "West Virginia is really strong," Miller said. "If we play well, we can win. They have a lot of one back-handed guys, and serve and volleyers." If this young team plays up to their potential and manages to keep the injuries to a minimum, it just might make the Final Four (of Region I, that is) and get an invitation to the Big Dance.