M. Tennis edges Rutgers

It was a little too close. At 5 p.m. yesterday, the Penn men's tennis team was cruising. Two days. Eighteen matches. Eighteen wins. The Quakers had blasted past George Washington, Georgetown, and Boston University and no Penn player had lost a set. Only Rutgers stood between Penn and perfection. The Scarlet Knights had not played a single match this season coming into Levy Tennis Pavilion. Penn junior Andreas Olofsson easily won the first match, winning 6-2, 6-1. Sophomore J.J. Cramer had a slightly tougher time with his match. Cramer won the first set, 6-4, only to lose the second in 7-5 in the tiebreaker, forcing the first third set of the Quakers' dual match season. Cramer hung on to win the match 7-5 in the third, and the score was Penn 2, Rutgers 0. Next up was a battle of the freshmen, as Penn's Marc Fisicaro went up against Scarlet Knight Jared Morris. Fisicaro took the first set, 6-4, but Morris stepped up, capitalizing on Fisicaro's errors to win the second set 6-2 and even up the match. "It was a very tough game plan for Marc," Quakers coach Gene Miller said. "Marc likes to use a lot of force, and he has to be careful not to overuse his weapon. The guy he was playing was a retriever -- someone who just gets the ball back. The key for Marc is to be patient, to use his power wisely and not make mistakes." Fisicaro came charging back in the third set, reducing his errors and taking advantage of any short balls Morris sent his way by coming into the net and hitting good volleys. He won the third set 6-2. Penn needed just one more win to ensure a victory. But the Scarlet Knights weren't giving up without a fight. On an adjacent court, Penn co-captain Marc Schecter lost a close three-setter, and suddenly Rutgers was back in the match. If it could win the two remaining matches, it could hand Penn its first loss of the spring season. The Quakers' doubles team was in trouble. Winning this match was key, since doubles victories counted twice as much as a singles win. Penn sophomores Brad Goldberg and Joel Silman had lost the first set 6-4, but they dominated the second, 6-0. Unfortunately, they failed to capitalize on the momentum and lost the third, 6-3. The match was now tied at 3-3, and Penn's five match winning streak was in danger. The success of the team now rested on the shoulders of senior co-captain Neil Aaronson, who was mired in the middle of a battle against Rutgers senior Steve Gola. After leading 4-0 in the first set, Aaronson lost the next six games and conceded the first set, 6-4. The second set went to a tiebreaker, where calm, cool and collected Aaronson prevailed over his hotheaded opponent, 8-6, forcing a third set. Both players carried their intensity into the third set, until the score was 3-3. Finally, Aaronson was able to take control, winning the next three games to secure a Quakers victory. "We knew Rutgers had a good team," Goldberg said. "But they surprised us. We knew it could be close, especially [with doubles matches counting two points], but we were not expecting it to be like this. Frankly, I thought George Washington would be tougher." "Since we beat them so easily last year, we were not ready for this," Olofsson added. "But we came through, and this will help us. Anytime you have match points against you and go to 3-3 in the third set, it brings everybody together."