Feeling the sting of a 7-0 defeat against defending Ivy League champion Brown on Friday was hard to sit with for the Penn men's tennis team. Fortunately, they had to wait less than 24 hours before they stepped back on the court against Yale.
"I don't think our team was happy with the way we competed," senior co-captain Andy Kolker said. "And we knew we needed to respond with something positive the next day against Yale."
The Quakers (10-8, 1-4 Ivy) did come away with something positive, however -- their first Ivy League victory, by edging Yale, 4-3, Saturday. The contest was decided in the final match.
However, Friday's matchup was less rewarding for the Quakers. No. 42 Brown (17-3, 3-0) dominated, winning every match without surrendering a single set to Penn.
In doubles play, the Bears set the tone for the day by winning all three matches. Senior Chris Drake and junior Jamie Cerretani combined to defeat senior Ryan Harwood and sophomore Anthony Pu, 8-4.
Brown sophomores Adil Shamasdin and Nicholas Goldberg topped junior Alex Fritz and sophomore Craig Rubin, 8-4. Junior Kris Goddard and freshman Zachary Pasanen completed the sweep with an 8-5 win over sophomore David Lynn and freshman Jimmy Fairbanks.
Singles play was more of the same, as only two Penn players managed to win three games in a single set. In first-seeded play, Brown's Cerretani topped Harwood, 6-3, 6-1. In fourth-seeded play, Pasanen topped Penn sophomore Todd Lecher, 6-3, 6-2.
"I played a serve and volleyer, who served very well that day, which made it difficult to break him," Harwood said. "He must have had the highest first serve percentage I played against in a while, so all in all, he played well."
On Saturday, Penn got on the right track at the start of the match with the Elis (6-9, 1-2) by winning the doubles point.
At third-seeded play, Lynn and Fairbanks bounced back from the previous day's defeat to shut out the Elis' team of sophomore Andrew Arons and freshman Milosz Gudzowski, 8-0.
Fritz and Rubin also rebounded from the Brown match to seal the doubles point with an 8-3 win over junior Neil Tolaney and sophomore Ryan Murphy. At first-seeded doubles, Penn's pair of Harwood and Pu were topped by junior Andrew Rosenfeld and freshman Rowan Reynolds, 9-8.
The Quakers split the six singles matches with Yale to earn the team win, with Kolker's match deciding the outcome. At first singles, Harwood topped Murphy, 6-3, 7-6. Lynn won in third-seeded play over junior David Goldman, 7-6, 6-1.
Kolker capped the match with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Tolaney to earn Penn not only its first Ivy League victory on the year, but also its first Ivy win on the road in three years.
"Our team played some awesome tennis and put me in a position to try to win the match," Kolker said. "Like the rest of the guys, I was happy with the way I competed and played, and was fortunately able to close out the match. It was a really great feeling for all of us."
