M. Tennis streaks into Princeton

The Penn men's tennis team rides a three-game winning streak into today's Ivy League matchup against Princeton. With a close win against a strong Temple team, a blowout against an inferior St. Joseph's team and a surprisingly simple victory against Rutgers, the Quakers look to keep bucking that bronco today against Princeton and tomorrow against Navy. A win today would even their record at 7-7. "The guys are definitely playing some good tennis right now," Penn coach Gene Miller said. After a productive week of practice, the Quakers feel confident going into the weekend. However, the Red and Blue know that neither of the two matches will be easy. Princeton is a formidable Ivy league opponent at the very least and Navy beat the Quakers in October 4-3. Miller sees Princeton as a team that is made up of very talented players, all of whom have their own characteristic style of play. "They're the kind of team that you have to know your stuff against them," Miller said. "If we handle the little intricacies of each player we'll do very well." Miller feels that the Quakers must use their strengths to take the Tigers out of their games. "We must consistently attack and bring our game to them," Miller said. Most importantly, Miller feels the deciding factor in today's match will be the Quakers' hustle. "They have to chase every ball down," Miller said. "That's the one thing that makes the big difference." After losing to Navy back in the fall, the Quakers would like to settle the score with the Midshipmen. "They're not as good as Princeton, but it will still be tough," senior captain Marc Fisicaro said. "They're a team we should definitely beat." The loss to Navy in October, was unsettling to coach Miller and rest of the team. "I felt our guys laid down and gave up at some point during the match," Miller said. "It wasn't typical of the team." The loss forced the team to reevaluate their approach to their matches. Navy will face an entirely different Penn team Saturday -- not only a team who has faced many nationally ranked teams since their loss to Navy, but also a team which is collectively playing its best tennis of the year. Miller is especially enthusiastic about six players who have played impressive matches recently. Among the players that Miller feels have reached a new level with their game are juniors Jordan Szekely and Urs Baertschi. Another key contributor is junior Dave Schwartzman, who stepped up big against Temple to come back from being down in the third 4-2 to win the match and clinch the Penn victory. Sophomore Dominic Roiux came back to win after losing the first set against Rutgers and freshman Eric Sobotka had a big win in the Rutgers match. "Eric is constantly improving, he did exactly what I've been looking for him to do in the Rutgers match," Miller said. "He stepped up big in a first set tiebreaker and won easily in the second." Miller credits the team's improvement to the early spring schedule which featured nationally ranked opponents, and expects the rest of the season to go well. But today, all of his attention is focused on the Tigers and the prospect of continuing to ride the Quakers' winning streak.