Down 3-0 in the final set of the deciding match against Richmond on Friday, things looked bleak for Penn's No. 1 David Lynn.
However, Lynn won the next six games to pull out a win, assuring a 4-3 victory for the Quakers and a weekend split versus Richmond and American, improving Penn's record to 2-1.
With the Red and Blue down, 3-2, with two matches remaining, freshman Mikhail Bekker won his match at No. 2 singles in three sets to set up Lynn's decisive showdown.
Penn coach Mark Riley attributed Lynn's victory to his superior fitness.
"It was a long, hard-fought match," Riley said. "Dave won because of his good conditioning."
By Saturday, however, fatigue had set in and the Red and Blue dropped a 4-3 decision to American.
"It was a long, tough road trip," Riley said. "It was like playing a double-overtime basketball game two nights in a row."
Penn's late-match heroics were absent on Saturday, as juniors Todd Lecher and Justin Lavner squandered one-set leads and were each beaten in three sets.
"On Saturday the disappointing part was that we won the first sets at four and five," Riley said. "And then lost those matches in three."
With many matches going down to the wire, Riley would like to see an improved effort from his veteran players.
"It's a good group, but we need to do better on the big points," he said. "We have a lot of juniors and we need a more consistent effort from the upperclassmen."
Another area of concern for Riley is the doubles, as the Quakers dropped the doubles points in both of the matches, giving themselves an early deficit.
"We played really hard in singles but put ourselves in a hole because of doubles," Riley said. "We need some extra work in doubles."
The team's top players competed in both capacities, compounding the difficulty of the trip. While Lynn's conditioning allowed him to come from behind Friday and triumph Saturday, his teammates were not as fortunate.
Bekker was not able to follow up on his grueling three-set victory Friday with a win on Saturday, falling to American's Guillame Tarralle in straight sets.
Riley vowed to spend extra time this week in practice working on doubles, but overall was pleased with the weekend performance.
"We played hard under tough conditions," he said. "We're looking forward to our next match against Boston College and we're getting better."
