M. Tennis readies for Fling competition

The Quakers will face two important Ivy League rivals this weekend and hope for support during a dry Fling. The Penn men's tennis team will remain perfectly sober for all of Spring Fling. However, their sobriety will not be due to the University's new alcohol policy. Instead, the Quakers will be competing all weekend as they host Dartmouth at the Lott Courts today and Harvard tomorrow. But athletes said they hope to enjoy a dry Fling with not-so-dry friends despite the fact that they have crucial Ivy matches to play. "Hopefully we can get as many of our drunk, overage friends to come out and make a lot of noise and get some guys rattled," said Rob Pringle, a sophomore on the squad and a Daily Pennsylvanian photographer. Coach Gordie Ernst extended Pringle's invitation to the underage crowd as well. "I'm hoping a lot of crazed Kool-Aid-induced fans will come to the matches," Ernst said. And if the fans do choose to take a break from the plethora of weekend festivities, they will enjoy two days of great tennis. The Big Green will be arriving at Penn looking to avenge last year's 5-2 loss to the Quakers. A perennial power, Dartmouth won the Ivies a mere two years ago. "Dartmouth will be a very good match," Penn senior captain Jordan Szekely said. "They're known to be extremely competitive and they fight pretty hard. It will be interesting to see what happens." A win against Dartmouth would give the Quakers a further confidence boost as they head into Saturday's competition against 15th-ranked Harvard. Harvard's lineup is incredibly strong. The Crimson are led by James Blake, a Harlem-bred tennis star who is currently ranked No. 1 in the country. As competitive as this weekend's matches should be, the Quakers feel they are ripe for a win. The Quakers believe that, due to the parity that exists between Ivy League teams, the time has come for an upset. "We beat Brown. Yale beat us. Brown beat Yale yesterday," Ernst explained. "That just shows that there is such equality among the teams. If teams show up to compete and fight, anything can happen." Furthermore, the team is playing with incredible confidence right now, coming off two 4-3 wins in the past week. The Red and Blue defeated Rutgers on Tuesday and Brown last Friday, pulling out close matches down the stretch. Part of that confidence may come from the fact that the Quakers are finally getting the national attention they feel they deserve. As a young and unproven team, the Quakers began the season competing against teams they felt were not giving the Red and Blue any respect. That has all changed, however. As of the latest team rankings, Penn had fought its way to the No. 68 spot, a jump of 66 places from the No. 134 ranking they held earlier this season. "Our rise in ranking is indicative of how far we've come. That sort of vindicates the kind of effort that we've put in," Pringle said. "Now we have to follow through on that but at least it's the first step towards believing that we can beat some of the top teams in the country." And that is exactly what the Quakers hope to do this weekend. While the alcohol may not be flowing freely, the Red and Blue hope that a win over Harvard will be enough to keep the fans partying long after Fling has ended.