Stejskal the hero as M. Tennis tops Yale

The Penn men's tennis team continued to show that it is a force to be reckoned with in the Ivy League.

After losing a very close match against Princeton two weekends ago, the Quakers (11-8 overall, 1-2 Ivy League) came back to split this weekend against two of the preseason league favorites.

The Red and Blue were pumped for this past weekend's matches.

Penn co-captain Ryan Harwood said he was "looking forward to it," and newcomer David Lynn called the showdowns an "excellent opportunity."

On Friday afternoon, against Yale, the Quakers did not start off well.

After senior Fanda Stejskal and Harwood won the first doubles match, Penn dropped both No. 2 and 3 to lose the point.

But the Quakers showed resilience -- something they struggled with for parts of this season -- and won four of the six singles matches to steal the win.

Coming from behind "really says something about our team," Stejskal said.

"Usually, whoever wins doubles wins the match. But we fought back, like against Princeton, and this week it happened."

Tied 3-3 with only one match to play, the afternoon was shaping up just like the Tigers' finale, where Lynn lost a heartbreaker that decided the entire match.

This time, however, with Stejskal in the decisive match, the Red and Blue did not go home on the losing end.

The atmosphere "was awesome," Stejskal said. "It was great, everyone was watching."

Stejskal won in straight sets against Ryan Murphy, 6-3, 7-5, and his teammates promptly rushed the court to congratulate their leader.

"It was the best feeling I've had in college, for sure," the Czech Republic native said.

"It's a team, and when you're getting the ball to decide the match... I was loving life, with all those people cheering me on."

Riding the adrenaline rush from the dramatic win on Friday, Penn took on the favorite to win the Ivies on Saturday, the Brown Bears.

The Quakers did use the momentum of their win on Friday to take the doubles point, but ultimately were overtaken by the Bears (7-10, 2-0).

"We definitely took the positive energy from the Yale match into the Brown matchup," Stejskal said. "Which is why we took doubles.

"That was a bit of a surprise, I guess, because they're the Ivy favorite."

Stejskal, at No. 1, was the only Quaker able to pull out a singles win.

The rest of the Red and Blue lost matches in straight sets, with the lone exception of freshman Todd Lecher, who had the most competitive match of the day.

Lecher, at No. 6, lost in a third-set tiebreaker, 10-8, after splitting the first two sets with Nick Goldberg.

All in all, Penn did seize the opportunity to grab the attention of the rest of the league, which they hope to do the rest of the season.

"This weekend was big for us," Stejskal said. "And it was great that it was at home."

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