M. Tennis preps for UVA

The vaunted Virginia men's tennis squad heads to Philadelphia this Saturday to take on Penn in a match between undefeated teams. The No. 57 Cavaliers (4-0) are led by a blue-chip recruiting class. They have won all but four team points in their four victories to date. Half of their starting line-up consists of freshmen. Leading the first-year cast is Doug Stewart, the No. 107 singles player in the country and the Cavaliers' first-seeded singles player. "They're going to be a lot of confident, young players, who are looking to prove themselves," Penn senior co-captain Ryan Harwood said. "They're going to be looking to knock a lot of people off -- our sophomores and seniors." The Quakers (3-0) come into Saturday's match cautiously optimistic about their chances against Virginia. "I know they have a good young team, but so do we and I think it's a really good test," senior co-captain Andy Kolker said. "I think it's a winnable match and if everybody plays up to their capabilities we can come out with a 'W.'" A key to the Quakers' success in the match lies in securing the all-important doubles point at the beginning of the match. "That's going to decide it, I think," Kolker said. "If we lose the doubles point, it's going to be really tough to take four out of six singles matches, but if we can get the doubles point and get a lot of energy and confidence going into the singles, I think we've got a good shot." "I think it's huge, obviously it would be a huge momentum swing in our direction," Harwood said. "I think it would make them very nervous with them coming into our house and taking the doubles point when they're favored." Penn shares a common opponent with Virginia in Richmond. The Cavaliers trounced the Spiders 7-0, while it took a comeback for the Quakers to edge Richmond 4-3 last weekend. Penn did not demonstrate its best play against Richmond. However, the Quakers came away from the match with a victory and a lesson for the rest of the season. "I think the biggest thing that we've learned is that we have to be a hard-working group, and we have to respect our opponents, take no one for granted, and we just have to work hard," Penn coach Mark Riley said. "If we compete hard, then we have a chance to play against anyone." For the first time this season, Penn is the underdog in a match -- and the Quakers look to use that to their advantage "It's nice that we're the underdog in the match because there's not as much pressure on us and we can just go out there and play," sophomore David Lynn said. It appears that Penn will be ready come Saturday for the battle of the unbeatens. The Quakers seem to be a quietly confident team that is looking forward to the substantial challenge that Virginia poses. "We're an underdog, and they're ranked and it would be a great win if we could pull it off.," Harwood said. "We're prepared, we just have to take it one step at a time."

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