The Levy Tennis Pavilion sounded more like Red Square in Moscow than West Philadelphia, as shouts of "Da, Mikhail" resounded throughout the afternoon.
That is because Mikhail Bekker, the talented 16-year-old freshman from Moscow, was making his collegiate team match debut in the Penn men's tennis spring season opener.
The Quakers defeated Maryland-Baltimore County, 6-1, to notch their first win of the season.
In his singles match, playing at No. 2, Bekker defeated UMBC's James Tyler in decisive fashion, 6-3, 6-3. The first set was dominated by the Penn freshman, who struggled a bit to close it out.
"He started serving better," Bekker said, citing his opponent's performance in the second set. "And that's why he was always leading until I broke him."
Once he achieved the break of serve, Bekker was able to use his pin-point accuracy and array of passing shots to end the match.
"I started keeping the ball in and trying not to miss so much," Bekker said about the final few games of the match.
Penn coach Mark Riley had a different take on Bekker's successtoward the end.
"At the end of the match, to finish it, I reminded him to be a little more aggressive," he said. "And he ended up at the net a little more."
With this first victory of the spring season under his belt, Bekker believes that his game can improve.
"I felt that I didn't have my best game today," Bekker said. "Usually when I play close matches I am more emotional. Today I was very serious."
Prior to his victory in singles, Bekker teamed with junior captain David Lynn in doubles to defeat the Retrievers' No. 1 team of Luis Baraldi and Josef Novotny, 8-4.
Their win captured the momentum from the outset, as the Quakers swept the three doubles matches to secure the opening point.
However, Riley would still like to see improvement from his doubles teams.
"Our doubles has been a weak spot," he said. "And we're addressing those issues."
Lynn did not fare as well in his singles match.
At the No. 1 position, Lynn faced Novotny, who carried an impressive 64-13 career mark into the match. Novotny had also beaten Bekker in the fall, en route to the title at the 2003 Penn Tennis Classic.
Having lost the first set, and trailing 5-2 in the second, Lynn battled back valiantly to even the set at 5-5 before finally succumbing, 6-4, 7-5.
"He's a really good competitor and he always finds a way to be there," Riley said about Lynn. "And he'll win a lot of matches for us."
PENN 6, UMBC 1 Singles
1 -- Novotny def. Lynn (PENN), 6-4, 7-5
2 -- Bekker (PENN) def. Tyler, 6-3, 6-3
3 -- Rubin (PENN) def. Kouznetsov, 6-1, 6-2
4 -- Lecher (PENN) def. Baraldi, 6-3, 7-5
5 -- Pu (PENN) def. Iranshand, 6-0, 6-2
6 -- Lavner (PENN) def. Keller, 6-1, 6-0
Doubles
1 -- Lynn/Bekker (PENN)
def. Novotny/Baraldi, 8-4
2 -- Rubin/Fairbanks (PENN)
def. Rubin/Fairbanks, 8-4
3 -- Pu/Lavner (PENN)
def. Kouznetsov/Hurdja, 8-1
