M. Tennis drops two

Tennis is one of those noble sports where proper etiquette is expected. The players are suppose to dress a certain way and act a certain way. Sportsmanship and civility rule. The crowd, in turn, is also held to a high standard of conduct. Now meet the Brown Bears, and the fans that love them. "The crowd was pretty loud and obnoxious," freshman J.J. Cramer said. "It seemed to bother a lot of players. It was kind of tough to deal with." Cramer also said the players and coach exhibited similar behavior, but could not give an example of what they said "without using profanity." Said junior Marc Schecter about his opponents: "[They] would say anything between points and changeovers. It was definitely a factor at times. You could see it." The end result of Friday's ruckus at Providence was a 5-2 loss for Penn (14-9, 3-5 EITA), dropping the Quakers below the .500 mark in the EITA for the first time since they opened the EITA season with a loss to Princeton. The following day, Penn clinched a below-.500 EITA season with another 5-2 loss -- this time to Yale, bringing the Quaker losing streak to four games. Penn began in usual fashion against Brown as it just got beaten out of the doubles point. After winning at No. 2 doubles and losing at No. 3, the Quakers' hopes rested on No. 1 doubles played by Cramer and junior Neil Aaronson. After failing to capitalizing on a match point, the duo lost in a tiebreaker. Losing the doubles point by one or two points in one of the three doubles matches has been a problem that has plagued Penn all season. "We're playing big in doubles, but when we're playing big points we're not winning them," Schecter said. "Basically, we haven't been clutch," Cramer said. Initially, the Quakers showed no ill effects against the Elis. This might seem surprising since they were coming off a decisive loss to a team they thought they could have -- and perhaps should have -- beaten. However, a powerful mixture of personal rivalries and team revenge for a 4-3 edging in the fall made Yale a focus of the season, and a target for Penn's recent frustrations. Indeed, the Quakers came out hot, and in unusual fashion, grabbed the doubles point. "The attitude was good," Schecter said. "Yale is the team we were gunning for through the year. We thought we should have beaten them in the fall. We came out and took the doubles point. It showed how much everyone wanted it." The early fire Penn showed was quickly extinguished by the talented Elis, sweeping all but one of the singles matches. The only bright spot in singles play for Penn was by sophomore Roy Sehgal, who won his match at No. 3. "I think we ran into some people who were ready to play," Schecter said. "They realized they were going to have a battle, regrouped and then took it to us." "We're capable of competing and playing at a higher level than what we've been doing," Cramer said. "We haven't been able to do that yet."