Bonnies' Bates to return

The St. Bonaventure's men's tennis coach brings his team to Penn, where he used to be an assistant. The Penn men's tennis team will look to keep alive some tradition this weekend as they take on three teams in two days at Levy Pavilion. Winning is a tradition that must be maintained in hopes of garnering momentum going into spring break. The Quakers (3-0) will begin on this track against a tough Richmond squad at 4 p.m. tomorrow. The weekend will culminate Saturday with a dual match against George Washington and St. Bonaventure. The match against the Bonnies will be the other restoration of Penn tradition, as St. Bonaventure coach Michael Bates will make his first return to the Penn campus as coach of another tennis team. Bates worked as an assistant under the tutelage of Penn coach Gene Miller before being offered the job as coach of both the men's and women's teams at St. Bonaventure after the 1995 fall season. "He is a really, really nice guy, and this will be a kind of homecoming for him," Quakers sophomore Udi Kish said. St. Bonaventure had an extremely successful fall season, posting a 6-0 record against opponents such as Xavier, Dayton and Youngstown State. The spring season has been more humbling, though, as Bates has drawn better opponents for his squad, such as Cornell. The Bonnies have also dealt with the injury bug. Battling to get atop the .500 mark in the spring, the Bonnies have managed just one win against two losses. "I think this will be a good match for everyone -- it is a good opportunity for them to play stronger teams," Kish said. Tomorrow's match should present a difficult opening for the weekend as the Quakers will face a strong Richmond team. The Spiders are coming off of a tough loss against Virginia last weekend, which brought their season record to an even 4-4. They are, however, a team that has previously played well while in Philadelphia. "This is a team that came into our house and beat us three years ago. Even though some of their top players have had injury problems, we have to be ready for them," Miller said. The last of the three opponents this weekend is George Washington, a team that the Quakers earned a victory against in the fall. "It was a win that came down to the last match. We were able to win it, 4-3, and it was an important win for us," Kish said. The lineup will remain the same as in recent matches. The singles will match Kish at No. 1 and junior Marc Fisicaro at No. 2, as usual. The remaining singles will be similar to the past couple of matches, with senior Brad Goldberg, senior Joel Silman, sophomore Jordan Szekely and senior J.J. Cramer all remaining through the third to sixth positions in the singles. The doubles teams of Goldberg and Cramer and Kish and Fisicaro may find themselves with a challenge this weekend. The lone win of the Richmond squad in their Virginia match was by their No. 1 doubles squad, who dominated, winning 8-3. The Quakers will need to perform well this weekend if they intend to carry the desired momentum into a rigorous spring break schedule. The spring will bring South Alabama and Miami (Fla.) -- national powers that will give Penn more bruises. Penn should be ready though after taking a much needed weekend off. After incurring the domination of powerhouse teams in Illinois, the Quakers barely squeaked out a win against Temple which they were "happy to have" but still not "completely pleased about." "This is a packaged deal obviously, with three teams in two days, but we need to just take it one match at a time and gain some steam going into the spring," Miller said. The well-rested Quakers should should be able to keep some of the traditions of old this weekend. While one is being brought to them in ex-coach Bates, the winning tradition will have to be earned against these three teams.

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