Ivy hopes wither for M. Tennis

Penn's shot at a winning Ivy League campaign fell short with losses to league-leading Columbia and Cornell. The Penn men's tennis team could smell its winning Ivy season baking, and all that was needed was a dash of Cornell to make the recipe complete. Unfortunately for the Quakers, Penn couldn't get a hold of that crucial ingredient, and its season fell flat. On Friday, the Quakers were overwhelmed, 6-1, by league-leading Columbia. After losing all three doubles matches, freshman Ryan Harwood won the lone singles point for Penn at the No. 2 position. "We played doubles pretty closely but ended up losing the doubles point," Harwood said. "We fought in the singles, but they're a better team than us. I didn't see everyone play too much personally, but I played very well and had a big win over Steve Millerman. When I spoke to [the rest of the guys] they said it was up and down. Columbia has a good team. Next year it's going to be a different story, though." The Quakers were unable to pull themselves together for the Saturday match at Cornell. Penn was upset by the Big Red, 4-3, in a competition that the Red and Blue were favored to win. For the second day in a row, the Quakers lost all of their doubles matches, while in singles play the Quakers went 3-3. Sophomore Fanda Stejskal lost a close match at the No. 1 position. Stejskal battled back from set point at 2-5 in the third set, only to lose the game 10-8 in a tiebreaker. "I think that shouldn't happen, losing to Cornell at the end of the season. We lost the energy and just got outplayed," Stejskal said. "All of them were pretty easy matches. I don't think that we choked. They weren't matches that you choke -- you just get beaten or not." The lineup for Cornell was notably different than it has been for the rest of the season. Junior Joey Zupan was out due to torn cartilage in his shoulder, which he has been playing with most of the season but got worse after the Dartmouth-Harvard weekend. Zupan was replaced by senior Brett Meringoff at the No. 5 singles position. Stejskal replaced Zupan as Brian Barki's doubles partner. In another change, sophomore Kevin Strouse replaced Rob Pringle in singles play for the first time during the Ivy season. This weekend was the continuation of a doubles slump for the Quakers. Penn was relatively strong in out-of-league doubles play, but has only managed to win a single doubles point in the Ivy League, against Dartmouth. "The team did not play doubles great against Cornell, losing the doubles point, which has been repetitive this year," Harwood said. "Brett and I ranked 12th in the region in doubles in the fall. We got in a recession which set us back. It's something we have to work on." Although the Quakers were disappointed about their losses, they see this season as one of improvement and are looking forward to making the most of next year. "We're all a little disappointed. There is only so much you can do really. You can beat yourself up about it only so much before that becomes counterproductive," Pringle said. "We're looking to build on this season and have a good next season. "And if we can make the same kind of improvements that we did between last season and this season, we can be at the top of the Ivy League. That's what's on everyone's mind."