M. Tennis returns to form, blows past Brown and Yale

After two tough losses to conference powerhouses Dartmouth and Harvard the week before, the Penn men's tennis team bounced back this weekend with convincing victories over Yale and Brown. With only one regular season contest left, the Quakers have a 16-5 record. Friday, the Red and Blue hosted Yale at Lott Tennis Courts. Yale and Penn haven't gotten along very well in the past few years, and the players were fired up. The Quakers won two of the three doubles matches, earning the doubles point when the No. 2 team of J.J. Cramer and Brad Goldberg defeated their Yale counterparts 8-6 in the deciding match. Penn had less trouble in singles, winning five of the six matches, all in straight sets. "It was pretty much the same across the board," Cramer said. "No one dropped the first set, and in most of the matches, they just went down in the second set. Our guys just closed it out." The only Penn player to play three sets was captain Marc Schecter, who lost a close match at No. 2 to Yale senior Adam Mandell 7-5, 6-7, 6-3. For three years Mandell was regarded as one of the best players in the Ivy League, qualifying for the NCAA tournament in singles last year. But Mandell's play has declined in the past year. So, it seems, has the play of Yale as a whole. "They didn't put up a fight," Schecter said. "They threw in the towel once they got down." Brown came to town Saturday. Although Penn also claimed this contest 6-1, the Bears went down fighting. After surrendering the doubles point, Brown forced the Quakers to three sets at No. 2, No. 5 and No. 6. At No. 1 and No. 3, Neil Aaronson and Marc Fisicaro had tough straight-set victories. "Even after they went down in the first set, they never gave up," said Cramer. "They just kept coming back." After 21 contests, fatigue and stress have begun to affect the performances of the Quakers, but their play was solid enough this weekend to get the job done once again.