M. Tennis visits improved Brown

The Penn men's tennis team looks to improve their record to 10-11 this weekend by sweeping a road trip that stops at Brown Friday and Yale Saturday. With three matches left, the Quakers (8-11, 2-4 EITA, 1-3 Ivy League) would like to finish off a season that saw both good times and times that could have been better. Last Saturday, the Quakers avoided a 0-4 conference record by defeating Ivy League title contender and last year's co-Ivy League Champion Dartmouth. "Our guys played really well," Penn coach Gene Miller said. "They should have a lot of confidence going into the weekend." Last year, Brown suffered through an 0-9 season in the EITA. However, Brown (11-4, 1-4, 0-3) has improved tremendously over last season's performance. They defeated a tough Rutgers squad and EITA foe Navy and played Princeton closely in a 4-3 loss. "They have been playing very well," said Miller. "They'll be up for us." Most recently, the Bears suffered a 7-0 setback to Yale, who will host Penn Saturday. Yale coach Alex Dorato has done an excellent job of recruiting talent to play for the Bulldogs this year. Yale, who finished last year tied for second with Princeton and Columbia in the EITA with a 6-3 record, has won four of their past five matches overall. However, they have not been playing as well as they are capable of. The Bulldogs (13-4, 4-1, 2-1) recently beat Army and Cornell in very competitive 4-3 matches. Keep in mind that the Red and Blue lost to both of those teams two weekends ago. However, after the win against Dartmouth, Miller and the team feel confident that they will finish off the season on a positive note. After a week of "focused and intense" practice, the Quakers will be ready for the Bears and the Bulldogs. Miller feels that the diversity the team has faced throughout the season has made them stronger. "Every time that something has been thrown at them, they've fought right back," Miller said. "That's exactly what you'd like to see." Since the spring break trip to California where the Quakers battled nationally ranked teams, the Red and Blue have gone 5-4. The losses to Cornell and Army hurt, but with the win over Dartmouth, the Quakers hope to carry the momentum from last weekend into this weekend. The game plan against Brown and Yale is simple -- "We have to play our game and take it to them," Miller said. "I expect all of them to do well this weekend."