M. Tennis hopes to have found winning formula

The Quakers think that a slew of early-season heavyweights will mean success come title time. The snow has finally melted off the Lott Courts, and it couldn't have come at a better time. The Penn men's tennis team is just beginning to kick its spring season into high gear, and the Quakers have learned some valuable lessons from last year in preparation for the upcoming league campaign. Penn ended the 1999 season with a dismal 2-7 record in the Eastern Intercollegiate Tennis League, which includes the eight Ivy League schools, Navy and Army. Although Penn had an overall record of 11-9 last season, it appears that part of their problem with winning matches against their EITL competitors might have been that they did not challenge themselves enough in choosing out-of-league competition. "Last year we won six or seven matches early in the season," Penn coach Gordie Ernst said. "But come the Ivy season, we weren't as tough as we could have been. This year I've beefed up the schedule and hopefully it will help in the long run." That beefed-up schedule has included matches against No. 21 Virginia on January 29 and No. 54 New Mexico on February 31, as well as Colgate on February 5 and Colorado on February 12. The Quakers suffered convincing losses to Virginia, New Mexico and Colorado, although they managed to take away a promising win over Colgate. Despite what this tougher schedule may do to Penn's overall record, it has the potential to pay off big if the Quakers can move up in the Ivy rankings. However, they have to gain practice in winning close matches if they are to beat their always feisty league competition. "I really think that from top to bottom we matched up very well against [Colorado] and we should have won," senior co-captain Brett Meringoff said. "However, the matches were close and [Colorado] pulled it out." There are also some new faces on the Penn team this year that will help to bolster its ranking. Frantisek Stejskal, a transfer student from Baylor, will be a key component of this year's team. Baylor is currently ranked No. 11 in the nation. Stejskal, however, did not play for the Bears last spring. After announcing his intention to transfer, Stejskal had a run-in with the Baylor coach and ended up not competing during the spring season. After arriving at Penn, though, he was a key contributor to the Quakers during the fall season, playing at No.1 singles. Despite having to undergo elbow surgery in November, Stejskal was back on the courts this semester and appears to be recovering well. "Since we started practicing again in January [Stejskal] has only gotten better," Meringoff said. "He's looking healthier and healthier every day." Freshman Ryan Harwood is another new member of the team who will play an important role in Penn's meets this season. "[Ryan] is playing high for us in singles. He is playing in our top three singles position, and he's my partner in the first doubles team," Meringoff said of the Penn newcomer. "We're a very strong team. We've competed really well against some highly ranked doubles teams so far, and we expect to do very well throughout the season." Penn will travel to Hawaii over spring break to compete and train for its first EITL match against Navy on March 29. "In Hawaii the schools are good but not great," Ernst said. "Last year we won two and we lost two, but every match was exciting." This year the key to Penn having success in the EITL will be winning matches against similarly skilled teams. "You have a group of even teams like us, Brown, Cornell, Yale -- out of those three or four teams we are going to be competing for, if not third place, then at least third place, hopefully, if Harvard or Columbia should stumble," Meringoff said. "It definitely can happen. We have the talent and the desire. We just need to make it happen on match day." An early indication of whether Penn has what it takes to improve its record this season will be its success against American University this Thursday and versus North Carolina State on Friday. "We should be in the middle or upper Ivy League and we should get a ranking soon," Stejskal said. "We're going to play? American and NC State? that are ranked but aren't excellent. Those are the matches where we can get a ranking as a team."