Saint Joseph's University has recently received much praise for its success on the basketball court. With the likes of Jameer Nelson and Delonte West, the Hawks were the talk of Philadelphia. Their tennis team, however, is not in that category.
The Penn men's tennis team decimated St. Joseph's in all aspects of play yesterday afternoon at Levy Tennis Pavilion. When all the rackets were in the bags and balls in the basket, the score was 7-0, in Penn's favor.
"I can't pick out any individual performances," Penn assistant coach Joel Berman said. "It was a good overall win for the team, with everyone in the lineup."
The Quakers had not been playing with their full lineup for the past few games, and the starters were all able to put away their crosstown foe.
Penn's No. 2 singles player, junior Craig Rubin, could not agree more with Berman's sentiments.
"I thought we had done a great job," Rubin said. "St. Joseph's is a much improved team.
"We had played St. Joseph's in recent years, they have greatly improved in two years. It was great to finally get everyone in the lineup, with our full roster."
Rubin defeated the Hawks' No. 2 singles player, Jimmy Holland, 6-4, 6-3.
In fact, everyone on the team won in straight sets, adding even more emphasis on the Quakers' commanding victory. Freshman Mikhail Bekker, sophomore Jimmy Fairbanks and juniors Justin Lavner, Todd Lecher and Anthony Pu also made their way into the singles win column.
Two of the doubles matches were closely contested, something which the overall score did not reflect, but both Penn teams came away with the 'W.'
Pu and Fairbanks squeaked out a two-point win over St. Joe's A.J. Garabadian and Holland. Penn junior David Lynn and Bekker also won a close match against the Hawks duo of Chris Spencer and Antonio Aniello, 9-7.
"The guys played solidly," Berman said. "We went out there and really hit the ball well."
This importance of this match dwindles in comparison to the Quakers' upcoming Ivy League opener against the Princeton Tigers.
"We're evaluated by our peer schools in the Ivy League," Penn coach Mark Riley said. "We look forward to playing Princeton."
Rubin and the rest of the Penn squad look to take on one of their biggest rivals this Saturday.
"Everyone on the team is real focused," the junior co-captain said. "Everyone has played real hard in practices, we're going for the win."
PENN 7, St. Joseph's 0 Singles
1 -- Mikhail Bekker (PENN) def. Frank Velazquez, 6-2, 6-2
2 -- Craig Rubin (PENN) def. Jimmy Holland, 6-4, 6-3
3 -- Justin Lavner (PENN) def. Chris Spencer, 6-1, 6-2
4 -- Todd Lecher (PENN) def. A.J. Garabadian, 6-0, 6-2
5 -- Jimmy Fairbanks (PENN) def. Van Homer Pangilinan, 6-1, 6-1
6 -- Anthony Pu (PENN) def. Antonio Aniello, 6-3, 6-4
Doubles
1 -- Lavner/Lecher (PENN) def. Velazquez/Pangilinan, 8-3
2 -- Pu/Fairbanks (PENN) def. Holland/Garabadian, 9-7
3 -- Lynn/Bekker (PENN) def. Spencer/Aniello, 8-6
