Illinois takes fight out of M. Tennis

A weekend battle versus Middle Tennessee State, Illinois and Florida ended in losses for the men's tennis team. The Quakers (1-4) came home Sunday night shut out by three Top 20 teams. Penn played Florida Friday, losing 11-1 overall. The one Quaker win came courtesy of junior Urs Baertschi over Gator Jeff Morrison, 6-4, 7-6 (2). The win over the Gators freshman was a personal victory as well for Baertschi. "It was huge, mainly from a personal perspective. He's ranked 39th in the nation," Baertschi said. "His ranking will go down and mine will go up pretty high." Baertschi appeared to be over his serving problems and unforced errors. "I came out with a game plan. I was up a set, then he was up 4-0. I said I can win against this guy," Baertschi said. "The next game I was up 5-4, then he came back. I played really aggressive. I had to hold my serve and win in the tiebreaker." Baertschi did not play Saturday due to a stomach muscle injury that affected his serving. He will return to practice Tuesday. After suffering a loss to Florida Friday, the Red and Blue doubles teams went up against Middle Tennessee and lost all three matches. Penn then went on to play singles versus the Blue Raiders all day Saturday, winning only two of eight. The Quakers' No. 1 Marc Fisicaro dropped a close singles match to David McNamara, 7-6, 7-6. Penn sophomore Mike Klatsky had a close win (7-6, 7-6) over Matt Walker, while junior Tejas Patel defeated Belal Hamadeh, 7-6, 6-3. "I just really wanted to win [the second set]. I was up 5-3, then he came back." Patel said. "I think he was a little disheartened after losing the first set. I had the momentum going into the set." Although the Quakers lost most of the matches -- including a doubles shutout -- the scores were close. The closest doubles match was with Penn sophomore Dominic Rioux and junior David Schwartzman versus Julius Roberts and Matt Walker. Rioux and Schwartzman lost 8-6. The Fighting Illini blanked the Quakers 12-0. The closest singles match, between Penn freshman Eric Sobotka and Brady Blain, went to a tiebreaker. Sobotka lost 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-6. "At the beginning of the weekend, I was catching balls pretty late," Sobotka said. "The first day I didn't play well at all. [But at] Illinois I played really hard." Sunday, the Quakers won three of eight singles matches versus a random slate of competition made up of Gators, Illini and Blue Raiders. Sobotka was one of the three Quakers to win. He defeated Middle Tennessee's Belal Hamadeh, 6-1, 6-3. He attributes his victory to Penn coach Gene Miller. "Coach was forcing me to serve in volley. I don't usually serve in volley." Sobotka said. "I was able to attack [Hamadeh]. My confidence level went way up." Other Red and Blue wins included Schwartzman over Blue Raider Matt Walker, 7-5, 1-6, 6-3, while Fisicaro crushed Illini Arnaud Lantin, 6-0, 6-1. Concerns about the speed of the Illini courts were dismissed because of their recent resurfacing. "They were a lot slower," said Baertschi, who competed there last year. Penn will play West Virginia this Thursday at 3 p.m. in Levy Pavilion.