With most of the starters taking a break, the reserves on the Penn men's tennis team stepped up and came out with a 5-2 win against Swarthmore College yesterday.
The Quakers captured the first point of the day in doubles play, taking two out of three matches.
The No. 1 team of junior Anthony Pu and sophomore Jimmy Fairbanks fought hard to win a close match, 9-8.
In his singles match, however, Pu was on the other side of a close score. After losing the first set 6-2, Pu lost the second set in a 7-6 tiebreaker.
His was one of Penn's few losses on the day. The Quakers' second defeat did not come until Swarthmore's Justin Durand thwarted freshman Jeremy Steglitz's comeback in the third set to close out the day's matches.
Trailing five games to two, Steglitz got into a groove and took two straight games.
At this point, Penn coach Mark Riley lined up his team on the adjacent court to show their support for their teammate.
As they cheered Steglitz on, the players joked around with their coach, who was in a particularly good mood as a result of their performances.
"I have to give them a lot of credit," Riley said of his reserves. "They have been making our team better with how they push the guys who are in front of them."
Sophomore Joe Mirabile picked it up in his third set after letting the second one slip away, as he became frustrated with his own errors.
After losing, 6-4, in the second set, Mirabile turned it around and caused his opponent, Jonathan Reiss, to begin making errors himself.
"What are you doing?"Reiss screamed to himself after launching a ball straight into the net.
Mirabile knew just what he was doing, as he coasted to a 6-1 victory in the third set to take the match and secure Penn's victory.
Although this win over the Garnet Tide was expected, the match was a good chance for a lot of the less experienced players to get out on the court and feel the pressure of playing.
"Joe Mirabile did well, Ed Silver did well," Riley said. "But I would consider this a team win."
Yesterday's win was also very important for the Quakers because it came right in the middle of a six-game home stretch.
The starters got their rest, and the reserves picked up the slack to earn another victory for the Red and Blue.
They will be looking to do the same tomorrow when they take on Ivy League rival Brown at2 p.m. at Lott Courts.
PENN 5, Swarthmore 2 Singles
1 Rodd def. Pu (P), 6-2, 7-6(5)
2 Mirabile (P) def. Reiss, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1
3 Silver (P) def. Visciano, 3-6, 6-4, 6-0
4 Gordon (P) def. Rae, 6-3, 6-3
5 Wand (P) def. Park, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
6 Durand def. Steglitz (P), 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
Doubles
1 Pu/Fairbanks (P) def.
Visciano/Noreika, 9-8 (5)
2 Silver/Steglitz (P) def. Park/Rodd, 8-4
3 Rae/Reiss def.
Mirabile/Gordon (P), 8-3
