Kish triumphs at Princeton Invite

This past weekend's matches at the Princeton Invitational and the Notre Dame Invitational should reaffirm the fact that this year's men's tennis team means business. At Princeton were 32 competitors from Penn, Princeton, Columbia and Rutgers. Freshman Udi Kish emerged victorious, winning the entire tournament. Kish defeated four quality opponents before taking Dave Murphy of host Princeton 7-6, 6-3 in the finals. Kish was the first Penn player ever to win the Princeton Invitational and last week was named Ivy League Player of the Week. "It was really exciting?.It was great to have the whole team behind me," Kish said. "It was a incredible individual achievement by Udi, but it is strong team unity and mutual concern that will make for continued team success," Penn coach Gene Miller said. Brad Goldberg and Urs Baertachi both advanced to the third round at Princeton. Baertachi played great tennis before falling to Navroz Udwadia, the No. 1 player for Columbia. Baertachi attributed part of his success to Miller, who "calmed him down and told him to pretend like he was drilling in practice." In the consolation doubles, the Quakers team of Dan Chen and David Schwartzman advanced to the finals against Scott Bartiano and Ogidi Obi of Columbia. The duo paid a price for its semifinal victory, as a collision between the two Quakers sidelined Schwartzman for the final. Penn had to default, and the Columbia team won in a walkover. The Quakers also sent Brian O'Grady, Joel Silman and Marc Fisicaro to Notre Dame to go up against some nationally ranked opponents, including Kentucky, Michigan, Northwestern and a few other top-25 teams. "This was the best we have done here at Notre Dame in a long while...however, today's success is yesterday's news," Miller said. Joel Silman, who has been playing outstanding tennis, reached the quarterfinals in South Bend, Ind., before losing to Justin Pohn of Iowa. O'Grady reached the quarterfinals as well, going down to Brian Harris of Notre Dame. O'Grady has been playing great tennis this season in quietly compiling a 5-1 overall record. The fact the team had its best results in recent history at Princeton and Notre Dame should bode well for the ECACs at Princeton this weekend. The winner of the ECACs goes to the Team Indoor Championships in Kentucky, which is Miller's ultimate goal for the team. "The real test will be this weekend," Kish said. "The fortunate individual success this weekend is due to the team effort guys put out during practice on and off the court," Miller said.