M. Tennis breezes through Army and BU to equal '98 win total

So much for it being the outdoor season. The Penn men's tennis team -- which officially ended its indoor season in the fall -- played both its Thursday and Friday matches at the indoor Levy Tennis Pavilion while outside the Lott courts stood empty. "The other teams wanted to play indoors and the rule is 50 degrees is the cutoff point and it was kind of close to that," freshman Alex Crisses said. "We practice indoors, so we all kind of feel more comfortable inside, so coach made the decision that we could play indoors." Penn coach Gordie Ernst's decision turned out to be a good one, as the Quakers (9-1) swept Army on Thursday, 7-0, and then went on to beat Boston University 6-1 the following day. The Quakers entered their match against the Cadets all fired up, with the memory of last year's disappointing 4-3 loss still etched in their minds. "The upperclassmen definitely remembered last year," Crisses said. "It was a devastating loss for them so they were all determined to win." While the Quakers came out hungry for revenge, they started slowly in doubles competition. Playing at No. 1, the team of Jordan Szekely and Dominic Rioux struggled, finally pulling out a 9-6 victory, while Joey Zupan and Brett Meringoff battled for their close 9-7 win. Only the No. 3 team of Eric Sobotka and Brian Barki had a relatively easy match, winning 8-4. However, after the initial slow start, the Quakers gathered steam, completely overpowering the Cadets in singles competition. The Red and Blue easily came away with all six wins, dropping only two sets. "As a whole, Army was our best match of the season by far. It was our first real test before the Ivy season and we were really mentally prepared," Crisses said. "This is the first big jump forward toward the Ivy season. Everyone knew that and was very focused." With last year's close loss, and this year's Quakers team featuring team captain Szekely as its only senior, Thursday's drubbing of Army came as a surprise to the team. "They lost only one guy, their No. 1, from last year, so I was very impressed with how easily we won," Szekely said. "I thought it was going to be a lot closer, especially since doubles was pretty close, but we all kind of rolled." After easily defeating the Cadets, the Quakers were confident it would be another easy victory Friday against the Terriers, a team that is not at Army's level. However, whether it was a case of letting their guard down, losing focus or simply a bad day, the Quakers did not coast to the 'W' as easily as expected. In doubles competition, Brett Meringoff and Daily Pennsylvanian staff photographer Rob Pringle, playing at No. 2, dropped an 8-5 decision, while Sobotka, Penn's No. 1, lost 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, to BU's Justin Schmidt in singles. With those two exceptions, however, Penn played a tight match, with no other singles player dropping a set. Junior Uday Garg, playing at No. 6, blanked the Terriers' Ben Sturner, 6-0, 6-0. With these last two wins, Penn equalled its win total of nine from all of last year before the beginning of the Ivy season. After a Friday match against Navy, the Quakers will begin Ivy play at Princeton Saturday. "Everyone right now is focused on what we need to do," Szekely said. "Coach is talking to us about where he wants us to be every day and everyone just responds well to him." Heading into next week's two big matches, winning these two warmup matches was an important confidence booster for the team. "Now they really believe in themselves," Ernst said. "In the past it was me telling them to believe in themselves but now they actually do."