Penn tennis teams come up aces over the weekend

Men finish a solid third at ECACs The men's tennis team continued its winning ways at this past weekend's ECACs in Princeton, N.J. The team finished third in a field of 16 quality opponents that included the likes of Princeton, Dartmouth and the victorious Harvard team. The Quakers, seeded fourth, started play at 9 a.m. last Friday, and ended at 6 p.m. feeling very satisfied after a 5-2 win over Georgetown in the first round. Udi Kish rebounded from a rough first set to take down Chris DiCorlo of Georgetown 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. Marc Fisicaro shellacked Kevin Levy of Georgetown 6-1, 6-3. Both were well-played matches that helped the team build momentum going into the second round against Penn State. After handily beating the Georgetown squad, the Quakers would now have to play the 70th-ranked and 5th-seeded Nittany Lions. The team was up to the challenge and banged out a hard fought 4-2 win Saturday. "This was one of the greatest matches I have seen in a really long time?everybody reached down deep and pulled out some really key victories," Penn coach Gene Miller said. Last year Penn was up on Penn State and then let it get away. This would not happen again: "This year's team is more disciplined and was able to shut the door on Penn State," Miller said. Sunday found the team losing to a better conditioned -- but not more talented -- Princeton team by the unimpressive score of 6-1. On the positive side, Brad Goldberg had the lone win, a 7-5, 7-6 (7-2) victory against Steve Thomas. "Brad has come around as a singles player and as far as doubles is concerned he is one of the best in the league," Miller said. Miller blamed some of the loss on "the poor setup of the tournament?the players had to wait around for three hours at a time before playing a match." In addition, the team was on the courts from 9 a.m to 6 p.m Friday and from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday. Kish paid the ultimate price for this fatigue. After victories in both the first and second rounds, Kish had to default from his third round match. Kish, an Israeli native served in the military for the last few years, and as a result he is not as well conditioned as the rest of the team. "Udi was not playing his best tennis and was only at about 90 percent. If this is not his best tennis, then the rest of the league better look out," Miller said. Last year the team came into the ECACs not expecting much, so when the Quakers reached the semifinals they were excited. This year the team went in to win, which made the third-place finish seem less then incredible. "Princeton may have won this time, but we will beat them in the spring," Miller said.