M. Tennis has twist of fate at ITA Rolex

The Penn men's tennis team was treated rudely as it hosted its final tournament of the fall season, the ITA Rolex Eastern Regional Championship, at the Levy Tennis Pavilion. After riding early success in day one, all the Quakers were dispatched on day two. Luck defined Penn's road to the regionals. First, Penn struck gold when it received the opportunity to host a tournament that for the past 15 years had been held at Princeton. It hit the jackpot again when its third doubles team and two of its singles players received entry into the tournament by means of at-large bids. When all was said and done, Marc Fisicaro, Tejas Petal, Jordan Szekely and Joey Zupan took aim at the best players in the East in singles play, while the teams of Fisicaro and Petal, Dominic Rioux and David Schwartzman and Zupan and Urs Baertschi tried their hands at doubles competition. The tournament began on a high note Thursday, especially for the doubles teams, as Fisicaro and Petal defeated St. Bonaventure's only entry, 8-3. Rioux and Schwartzman followed with an 8-1 victory over Towson's lone representatives, and Zupan and Baertschi completed the hat trick with a win over the team from Manhattan, 8-2. In singles action, Fisicaro received a bye into the second round. Petal joined him on the heels of a straight set victory over Justin Berman of Georgetown, 6-3, 6-3. At that point, though, Penn's luck ran out. In second round play, Fisicaro and Petal were knocked off, 8-5, by the No. 1 team from Providence College. Then, Rioux and Schwartzman, along with Zupan and Baertschi, suffered crushing 9-8 defeats at the hands of Penn State's No. 2 team and Navy's squad, respectively. Fisicaro and Petal did not fare much better in their individual matches, as Petal lost to Pero Pivcevic of Temple, 2-6, 6-2, 3-6, and Fisicaro, who was battling illness and a loss of practice time, fell 6-3, 4-6, 2-6, to Jeff Schacter of Princeton. "The tournament was definitely disappointing," Fisicaro said. "A lot of guys, including myself, could have gone a lot farther." Despite the heartbreaking losses, Penn coach Gene Miller was able to find positives in his team's play. "We were very competitive. Our doubles play was very good, although singles struggled, which was a change for us," Miller said. "I was also impressed with the play of our more inexperienced players like Joey, Urs and especially Tejas. They really played to a higher level this weekend." Penn watched Harvard dominate the remainder of the tournament. Teammates James Blake and Thomas Blake battled in the finals, with James coming away with the victory. The two then teamed up to take the doubles title over Virginia Tech's team of Adam and Aaron Marchetti. With the fall part of the schedule officially completed, it is time for Miller and his team to look ahead to the spring season, beginning in January, which in his eyes is the most important part of the year. "The spring is our main season," Miller said. "We hope to do well in the Ivy League, which is helped by us playing four of the tougher Ivy teams at home. One or two wins there or during our California trip could change the course of our season." One thing is clear though. While the team has gained experience, there is still a long way to go. "We all need to work hard in the offseason so that we can step our games up to the next level come the spring," Fisicaro said. "While this is a very disciplined team, during the offseason the preparation and commitment must be there to work on our conditioning and attention to detail so we can be ready in the spring," Miller said. Even though the biggest event in recent history for men's tennis at Penn might not have turned out the way the players and coaches had hoped, there is one thing to remember: with spring comes new life.