Doubles strong for M. Tennis

The Penn men's tennis team had a pair of mirror-image performances last week against American University and North Carolina State, beating American 5-2 and losing to the Wolfpack by the same margin. The Quakers beat the Eagles handily on Thursday, winning all three doubles matches and four of six singles matches. The No. 1 Penn doubles team of freshman Ryan Harwood and senior Brett Meringoff won their match easily, defeating the American duo, 8-4. It was more of a struggle for the No. 2 doubles team of junior Eric Sobotka and sophomore Fanda Stejskal, with the match going into a tiebreaker which Penn won, 9-8. Penn's No. 3 doubles team of junior Joey Zupan and sophomore Brian Barki won easily, 8-3. In singles competition, No. 1 Stejskal defeated his opponent Jason Moon, 6-1, 6-2, to cruise to an early victory. Sobotka had a rougher time at the No. 2 position, taking an early lead by winning the first set, 6-2, and then falling behind in the second and third sets, 6-1 and 6-3, respectively, to lose the match. But it was easy for Penn at the No. 3 spot, as Harwood skunked his opponent, 6-0, 6-0, for an impressive victory. And freshman Andy Kolker, a new addition to the Penn lineup, managed a win at No. 6 over American in a three-set thriller. Against N.C. State, Penn continued its success in doubles, but only managed one win in singles. The No. 1 doubles team of Meringoff and Harwood repeated Thursday's success, defeating the Wolfpack, 8-5. Stejskal and Sobotka were unable to pull out a win in doubles, losing 8-4. The No. 3 team of Barki and Zupan won their match, 8-3. "N.C. State was one of the best doubles we've played," Penn coach Gordie Ernst said. "We could do better, though." It was a rough day for Penn in singles. Only Harwood, playing at No. 3, was able to pull out a win against his Wolfpack opponent. After winning the first set, 7-5, Harwood finished his opponent off in the second set, 7-6. For the rest of the day, only Rob Pringle was able to capture a set for the Quakers, falling in three at No. 5. "I thought we were going to beat [N.C. State]. I was a little disappointed. They did play well. It was just a couple of things here and there," Harwood said. "We've never played with that lineup before. Gordie was experimenting a little more and it wasn't our regular lineup." Both of the events were preseason matches for the Quakers. After finishing last year with a 2-7 record in the Eastern Intercollegiate Tennis League, Penn is trying to find its strongest lineup now before it heads into its first EITL competition on March 29 against Navy. "We have a lot of talent on the team and [Ernst] wants to see who is going to step up in actual matches," Harwood said. "The Ivy season lineup is what's going to count." Penn will get a chance to further refine its lineup tomorrow when it faces Division III schools Swarthmore and Haverford.

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