Three members of the Penn men's tennis team continued their preparation for the upcoming spring season by competing in the annual Princeton Invitational Tournament last weekend. Coach Gene Miller took his No. 1 and No. 5 singles players, senior Neil Aaronson and sophomore J.J. Cramer, as well as his No. 1 doubles team, Cramer and fellow sophomore Brad Goldberg, to Jadwin Gym Friday to play against the best of the East. Most teams brought their first and second ranked players to Princeton. Last week, impressed with the team's play in practice and early matches, Miller was optimistic about chances for a Penn victory in either singles or doubles. Although the Quakers fell short of this goal, Miller was not upset with Penn's performance. "The only disappointment was the doubles team not winning its match," Miller said. Cramer and Goldberg, ranked 11th in the draw, failed to advance past the first round. "We should have won. They didn't have a ranking," Goldberg said of Princeton's team, which defeated the Quakers 6-4, 2-6, 7-5. "It was probably an upset," conceded Miller. "We learned a lot, and this may prevent future problems, which may actually cause them to be ranked higher than they are now," he added. The singles players fared slightly better. Aaronson had a slow start in his first round match against Penn State's Colin Smeaton, who took the Penn co-captain to a tiebreaker in the first set. After winning the tiebreak however, Aaronson coasted to an early lead in the second set and was able to finish off Smeaton by a score of 6-3. His next opponent was Harvard freshman Thomas Blake. Aaronson started off with 4-0 lead in the first set and seemed in control. But Blake, one of the top junior players in the country last year, managed to raise his game a few notches, fighting back from the deficit to capture the first set in a tiebreaker. The second set was less dramatic, with Blake emerging as the victor by a score of 6-3. "He really was all over the net, serving huge, volleying well and hard to pass," Aaronson said. "Eventually, he is going to be really big." Penn's other singles entrant, Cramer, lost to Princeton's No. 2 singles player, Brooke Hazelton, in the first round and entered the backdraw to get some more match play. After advancing past the first round of consolation play in straight sets, Cramer fell victim to another Tiger, Gog Boonswang, 6-1 6-4. Boonswang is part of the No. 1 doubles team in the region. Although Penn failed to make a strong statement last weekend, the players are not overly concerned. The Princeton Invitational has traditionally been a preparatory event, giving players an opportunity to get some real match experience and perhaps scope out the rest of the Ivy League before the season heats up. "It looks like Harvard is the league favorite, Aaronson said. "But we're definitely one of the more capable teams in the league this season and I think we're going to challenge for the top spots," he added. Next up for the Quakers are George Washington, Boston University, Georgetown and Rutgers in the Penn Conference Classic Feb. 25-26.
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