Tennis teams crush opponents all over nation

Men beat Temple and LaSalle, host Princeton The Penn men's tennis team was in no mood to show the locals a good time?and it didn't. Coming off a crushing loss to West Virginia last Thursday, the Quakers crushed back -- twice. Temple and La Salle did not have a chance as Penn played some of its most dominating tennis to date, defeating its fellow Big 5 rivals, 6-1 and 5-0, respectively. "Everyone was just confident," junior Marc Schecter said. "We knew that these were teams we should beat and we didn't want to fall victim to an upset." Indeed. An upset by either of these teams would have been a devastating blow to the Quakers' NCAA chances. Penn (10-4) was not too concerned about La Salle pulling off the coup, but Temple was another story. Featuring John Simone, a player who competed in a few matches on the pro tour, the Quakers were not about to cut it close. After getting the first point by winning two of three doubles matches, Penn knew it was on its way. "Against Temple, the key was that we were able to get the first point," senior captain David Nathan said. "We were winning from the very beginning. Temple is the type of team that we wanted to make sure we didn't let this slip away." In a good sign for the team, Nathan, who is coming off an injury, gutted out a victory in a tough three-set singles match and teamed with Schecter to take the No. 1 doubles. In the doubles match, Nathan had his chance to play against Simone. His verdict on the Temple star: good, but not great. "He's definitely a good player," Nathan said. "He's nothing phenomenal. Nothing we can't handle." Simone won the only match for the Owls -- but even that was close -- edging out Schecter, 7-5, 7-5, in No. 1 singles. The day belonged to Penn. The Quakers were out for redemption for the West Virginia loss and they got it. "The West Virginia loss put our season in perspective," sophomore Jeff Jackson said. "I think we went in thinking we were invincible. After losing pretty badly, we learned to focus on our matches." · Penn will see if it can capture any momentum from Tuesday's match and bag it for this weekend. The Quakers' Ivy League season begins today at 2:00 p.m. as Penn hosts Ivy power Princeton (6-1). Tomorrow at noon, Navy comes in to take on the Quakers. Today's match will be a tough and important one for Penn as the Tigers are in contention for one of the four NCAA berths out of Region I. Princeton, off to a fast start, will also be beginning its Ivy season. "They're a pretty good team with a bunch of top players," Jackson said. "If we can somehow play well and upset them, it would be a really big boost."