Freshmen Tas Tobias and Joseph Lok got their first taste of interscholastic tennis this weekend at the Northeastern Intercollegiate Tournament in Providence, R.I.
Both freshmen had solid showings, as Lok reached the third flight semifinal, and Tobias, after losing his first match, won three straight to claim ninth place out of 16 competitors in the second flight.
Tobias lost his first match to Carl Fisher of Army on Friday, 7-6, 6-3. After getting the first match under his belt, however, Tobias fought his way to the consolation final, which he breezed through, 6-4, 6-1, Sunday afternoon.
Lok started fast, winning his first two matches against opponents from Bucknell and Lafayette, and dropping just nine games in the process. However, he was defeated in the semifinals by Walter Garcia of Niagara in a hotly contested battle, 7-6 (4), 6-4.
The intrepid freshmen were joined by sophomore sensation Mikhail Bekker, and ever solid senior captain David Lynn. The two returning starters from last year's squad both competed in flight No. 1, and started off with wins.
Lynn dispatched his first opponent, Andrew Mott of Lafayette, 6-3, 6-4, but had to retire in the second match and ended up pulling out of the singles tournament.
Lynn could not be reached for comment.
Bekker did not fair much better. After dealing a will-crushing defeat to his first opponent, 6-4, 6-1, Bekker was bounced in two heartbreakingly close matches.
All four Penn players also competed in the doubles tournament. The freshmen teamed up and made it to the semifinals of flight No. 2, while Bekker and Lynn, after dropping their first match 8-6, came out much sharper in the next three matches. They only gave up five games and were awarded ninth place overall.
Up next for the Quakers is the Eastern College Athletic Conference Tournament in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., the site of the U.S. Open. Should they win the ECACs, Penn's first team tournament of the year, they would qualify for Nationals in the spring.
Northeastern Intercollegiate
Singles flight winners:
1. Goldberg, Brown
2. Alvarado, Manhattan
3. Tedaldi, Brown
4. Cohen, Manhattan
5. Fernandez, Lehigh
6. Coleman, Maryland
7. Collins, Army
8. DiChiara, Bucknell
9. Lieberman, Assumption
