M. Tennis settles for one win

The Penn men's tennis team (7-8) saw their three-game winning streak upended by Princeton Friday 5-2, but recovered Saturday with a 5-2 victory against Navy. The weekend's matches -- both held in front of healthy-sized crowds and under sunny blue skies at the Lott Courts -- featured a pair of dazzling wins by Penn junior Urs Baertschi and two come-from-behind victories by Quakers' freshman Eric Sobotka. Penn coach Gene Miller emphasized that his players must not only make shots but also outhustle the competition. Princeton did a good job of controlling the flow Friday, while Penn's hustling set the tempo against Navy. The Tigers started the match on a winning note Friday, taking the doubles point 2-1. Penn's duo of Jordan Szekely and Sobotka lost to Ahn Ahn Liu and Patrick Sweeny, 8-4. Quakers junior Dave Schwartzman and sophomore Dominic Rioux lost to Tigers Jeff Schachter and Kevin Woo by the same score. The No. 1 Penn doubles team of captain Marc Fisicaro and Baertschi beat Jon Gilula and Kyle Kliegerman 8-6. The victory did not affect the score because the Tigers had already won the other two doubles matches. "First doubles was a little disappointing. We could have done better, but in singles, all the way down the line it's real close," Princeton coach David Benjamin said after the doubles round had finished. It turned out that the bottom two matches were anything but close. Schwartzman and Rioux lost quickly, giving the Tigers a 3-0 lead. Szekely put up a good fight against Liu, but fell 6-3, 6-3. Liu's victory, Princeton's fourth point, clinched the Tiger victory. Fisicaro then fell to senior Gilula 6-2, 6-4. Baertschi's 6-3, 6-4 victory over highly-touted freshman Kliegerman -- who beat Miami's No. 2 player, Arturo Zizold, in a third-set tiebreak early this spring -- gave Penn one of two points earned in the match. "I was expecting a very tough match," Baertschi said. "My goal was to try to come in down the middle, to not give him any easy passing shots, and it worked beautifully in the first set, but he adapted to my style in the second. I kept the ball in play a little longer and tried to put away the short balls. At 5-4, everything came together." After a first set tiebreak loss, Sobotka cruised to win the second and third sets 6-3, 6-2, giving the Quakers new-found confidence going into the Navy match. The same doubles teams who played against Princeton lost all three doubles matches to Navy early Saturday afternoon. With the Midshipmen up by one point, the match headed to singles. Baertschi was the first to claim victory, again handily defeating a strong No. 2 player, senior Silas Bouyer, 6-3, 6-2. "I was surprised he never improved or came back, he's ranked pretty high," Baertschi said. Baertschi has played with a lot of confidence the last six matches, largely because of the success he has had with his serve. "I fell that I can hold my serve almost every time." Baertschi said "When I get my break, it's full concentration on holding my serve." Schwartzman cruised to victory in the first set, 6-0, but had a more difficult time in the second against junior Dan Stahlschmidt, winning 6-4 in the second after being up 5-2. "I was a little disappointed that I let him back in the match," Schwartzman said. "He started pushing the ball, and that's a tough style for me to play against." Penn freshman Jamee Wong lost to Midshipman sophomore Spencer Wilcox 6-3, 6-4 in his first non-exhibition collegiate match. "I was a bit nervous in the beginning," Wong said, "but I calmed down. He went up 3-0 in the first set and then I tied it at 3-3, but I couldn't capitalize." Fisicaro beat Midshipman Mitch Koch in a third-set tiebreak 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (7-3) to clinch the Penn victory. Down 6-5 in the third, Fisicaro dug deep to tie the score at 6-6 and win the tiebreak. Finding himself in the same position as the day before, Sobotka came back from losing the first set to win his match against Navy's Jim McHugh 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. In the third set, Sobotka found himself up 3-0, but McHugh held his serve and then broke Sobotka. Sobotka broke back and held his serve to make it 5-2. "I'm playing smarter and with a little more confidence. Over spring break, I lost four three-setters," Sobotka said. "It's great to win two this weekend against our two arch-rivals."