M. Tennis captures last two before Ivies

The Penn men's tennis team said that it needed to get wins over a pair of non-league foes under its belt before the start of the Ivy League season.

Behind the strong play of their leaders and continued excellence from a surprising source, the Quakers have done just that.

The Red and Blue rolled this past weekend, coasting to 6-1 wins over both St. Bonaventure and Navy.

In the home match against the Bonnies, Penn started out strong -- with two doubles wins -- and went on to smoke last year's Atlantic 10 champs.

At first doubles, Fanda Stejskal and Ryan Harwood coasted, 8-3, as did freshmen tandem David Lynn and Anthony Pu, rolling 8-2.

Harwood and I "performed very well," Stejskal said. "Going into the Ivy season, I'm not sure we've played this well before."

In singles, the Quakers won 5 out of 6 matches, with the only loss coming from Stejskal at No. 1.

Lynn, Brian Barki, Todd Lecher and Pu all were victorious in straight sets, and Harwood discarded Mario Arce in three sets.

On Sunday, in Annapolis, the Red and Blue administered their second thrashing of the weekend.

Penn once again set the pace with doubles' victories, taking all three of the matches against the Midshipmen.

"Doubles are important, especially since many games are 4-3," Stejskal said. "They are often the deciding point.

"If we all play well, like we did this weekend, we have a good chance at winning Ivy doubles matches. We didn't do that last year, and we had to fight back in many matches."

Penn once again dominated the singles' matches, winning all but No. 3, where Harwood dropped a tough three-set match to David Lee.

But the story of the weekend, however -- as he has been for the past couple of weeks -- was Pu.

The freshman won his fourth and fifth straight singles matches, including both doubles matches over the weekend with Lynn.

"Especially since the injuries [to Andy Kolker and Craig Rubin] he's really gotten a good chance," Stejskal said. "He's gotten much better.

"He has the potential to beat most guys."

Pu feels that his hard work has been paying off recently.

"Coach and I have been working on me playing smarter," Pu said. "I've been working on my game a lot, and I've been getting wins."

One concern for the Red and Blue this weekend against Princeton is how the freshmen will react to the Ivy season.

"The pressure is much higher [in Ivy matches]," Stejskal said. "We have to see how [the freshmen] handle that. I think they'll handle it well."

Pu -- consistent with his play of late -- is is not nervous at all.

"I'm actually really anxious," he said. "All the upperclassmen tell me that the team steps it up [in Ivy matches]. This is where the record really counts."

Heading into this weekend's home showdown with the Tigers, the team is pleased at how it is entering the Ivy season.

Lynn "and I struggled our first couple doubles matches, and didn't really click," Pu said. "But we've really come together this season."

Pu and Lynn have only been together for a short time because of the injuries.

"We won all but two matches all weekend," Stejskal said. "Everyone's on top of their game.

"We could really do some damage in the Ivy season this year."

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