Harvard knocks out Penn in ECAC semifinals

M. Tennis bests GW andM. Tennis bests GW andDarmouth in opening rounds After several weeks of successful individual tournament play, the Penn men's tennis team finally began its season last weekend at the ECAC Championships at Princeton. The Quakers began the weekend with victories over George Washington and Dartmouth, both by scores of 4-3, before falling to Harvard in the semifinals, 6-1. The Crimson would eventually lose in the finals to tournament-surprise Columbia. After losing the doubles point, Penn won four of six singles matches to advance past the Colonials in the first round. The Quakers were led by two match-clinching three-set victories by senior co-captain J.J. Cramer at No. 3 singles and by sophomore Urs Baertschi at No. 5 singles. After almost winning the match in the second set, Cramer was forced into a third set, but won, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. Baertschi, whose position was not secure going into the weekend, was badly beaten in the first set, but came back to win a second-set tie-breaker and a relatively easy third set to get the point for the team, 1-6, 7-6 (7-4) 6-2. "I was not sure if we were going to take Urs to the tournament," Quakers coach Gene Miller said. "But he really stepped it up after almost losing in the second set." Penn also got straight-set wins from junior Marc Fisicaro at No. 2 singles, 6-2, 6-0 and sophomore Jordan Szekely at No. 6 singles, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4). "They were much more calm than we were," Miller said. "We were spotty and not very smooth, but we were tough enough to come away with a victory. We learned a lot from this match and that helped us against Dartmouth." The Quakers were victorious in the second round of the tournament against the Big Green (4-1), a team that Miller had never beaten in his five years at Penn. Sophomore Udi Kish cruised to a 6-0, 6-1 victory at No. 1, Fisicaro won, 6-3, 6-1, at No. 2 and Cramer sailed to a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 3. Although the Quakers lost the remaining singles matches, a sweep of the doubles matches provided the necessary fourth point for a victory and a spot in the semifinals. "We have gotten to the semifinals in the last three major tournaments we have played in," Miller said. "This time, though, we were not satisfied and wanted to get farther." However, the Crimson (3-1) stood in the way of Penn's hopes for a bid in the finals. The Quakers lost, 6-1, with their only point coming at No. 6 singles by freshman Dominic Rioux by a score of 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.