Tennis teams drop Ivy openers

Men downed 6-1 by Princeton Sophomores Roy Sehgal and Andreas Olofsson were sitting in the catbird's seat. The Penn men's tennis duo had match point against its talented Princeton opponents, up 7-6 and 40-30. The two other doubles matches split between the Ivy rivals, so this match would decide who would lay claim to the all-important first point. Penn slammed match point down the Tiger's throat, but Princeton made a miraculous return and won the point. Princeton then rallied, winning that doubles match, and beating Penn for the day, 6-1. "They made an incredible return to win the point," Sehgal said. "That may have been a turning point. I think we were a little down after the doubles." Princeton (7-1, 1-0 Ivy League) won five of six singles matches. Only a spirited effort by junior Neil Aaronson prevented an entire Tiger sweep. Despite the lopsided score, coach Gene Miller was pleased with the team's performance. He cited Penn's overall competitiveness as well as Princeton's tiger-like competition. "I think it was a lot closer than the score," coach Gene Miller said. "I thought all the guys played pretty well. I think we're peaking. It's the best we've played." Princeton is favored to snare one of the four NCAA invites from Region I. Generally regarded as the second best team in the region after Harvard, Penn (11-5, 0-1) has hopes to join these elite teams in the NCAAs. "[Princeton] was one step above us," freshman Jon Aspatore said. "With all the practice we're doing, we'll definitely be at that level. Every match could have gone either way. We'll definitely be up with the top teams. We'll be there pretty soon." The team showed showed no ill effects the following day, as it routed Navy 7-0. The Quakers have shown a habit of destroying weaker teams this year. This was their fifth shutout of the season. "The Navy match was a good match," junior Mark Schecter said. "We came out well. We didn't give them a chance to compete against us." The team feels despite the Princeton loss, it still has a good chance to make the NCAAs. For the Quakers to achieve that goal, they will have to start putting away the big point -- and hope they are not hitting into a human wall.