With the men's tennis team's match against Army tied at three apiece, it was up to Penn senior captain David Lynn and Army's John Houghton to decide the fates of their teams.
Lynn overcame a hard fought 7-6 first set loss to win the second set 6-3. However, the third set saw Lynn falling, 6-3, allowing the Black Knights to clinch a 4-3 victory over Penn, which dropped its first match to fall to 7-1.
The narrow margin of Lynn's loss embodies the defeat at the hands of an Army club that defeated Penn's Ivy League counterparts, Yale and Columbia. Much like they did to the Quakers, the Black Knights handed the Lions their first loss of the season on Friday night, 4-3.
Assistant coach Josh Axler lauded Penn's effort against such a worthy foe.
"There were a lot of tough matches and we had some opportunities," he said. "This was our first real challenge."
On its second road trip of the season, the Red and Blue got off to a rocky start as it lost the doubles point for the fourth time in five matches.
One bright spot in doubles was Lynn, who teamed with No. 2 singles player Mikhail Bekker against Army's Houghton and Sebastian Salas. The tandem played a nerve-racking match that they finally captured, 9-8, in a tie-breaker which they won by a 7-3 score.
Penn's other two doubles teams did not fare as well. Anthony Pu and Justin Lanver were outplayed, 8-4, at No. 1 doubles against Carl Fisher and Kyle Roybal. The No. 3 doubles team of Craig Rubin and Todd Lecher faced a similar fate by the same score to the Black Knights' pairing of David Collins and Michael Good.
Plagued with shaky doubles play, singles was forced to win four of six matches in order to keep the Quakers' perfect record intact. However, the tall task they had completed four previous times this season did not come to fruition as only the three even-numbered singles players were victorious.
No. 2 singles witnessed Bekker picking up his second win of the day by defeating Carl Fisher, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, in a tense three setter. Lecher, at No. 4, battled back after a 4-6 first set loss to easily take the second and third set by identical 6-1 scores. Penn's final victory came via a 6-4, 6-2 Jimmy Fairbanks win over the Black Knights' Kevin Harris.
The team certainly did not fall without a fight as they tightly contested each of their three singles losses.
"We ended up going up 3-2 at one point, and we were down in a couple of these matches, but were able to come back," Axler said. "Especially to get to the third set in the Lynn match was big. The next time, the tables will turn."
No. 3 singles player Justin Lavner built a one-set lead by winning the first set 6-4 before dropping the final two, 2-6 and 4-6, to Salas. Army was able to pick up another point due to strong play by Eddie Kang who was victorious, 6-4, 6-4, over Rubin at No. 5 singles.
The Quakers will need to regroup if they hope to have more favorable results during their five away matches over spring break.
"There's a lot of confidence on this team and we look for a good showing," said Axler.
The Quakers play the first of three matches in Boise, Idaho against New Mexico on Friday.
