Up 5-0 in the second set and serving at match point, sophomore transfer Jason Pinsky turned to his teammates on the balcony of Levy Pavillion to send them and his opponent a brief message.
"Serve and volley," he said with a confident smile, broadcasting exactly what he planned to do on the upcoming point.
He proceeded to do just that, attacking the net to win the match and set the tone for a day that belonged to the Quakers.
In its first match of the year, Penn's tennis team cruised to 6-1 victory over the University of Maryland Baltimore County yesterday.
Penn swept the doubles matches, with the top pair of Pinsky and sophomore Joe Lok beating the Retrievers' Ifran Shamasdin and David Jackson 8-1.
The team also saw strong play from its two freshmen, Jon Boym and Justin Fox.
In the third position in doubles, Boym and junior John Stetson won 8-2, while Fox and sophomore Brandon O'Gara prevailed 8-6 in the second spot in one of the few close matches of the day.
O'Gara and Fox won the last five games to claw back and then secure the match, which was punctuated by a lengthy rally.
Boym's usual doubles partner, junior Mikhail Bekker, sat out of yesterday's matches with a sore elbow.
Boym and Fox were also victorious in the second and sixth spots for singles competition, as Penn won five of the six matches overall.
"All the freshmen have done is get better," head coach Mark Riley said. "They came to Penn ready to play high quality tennis, and they keep helping us out a lot."
At the number one spot, Pinsky beat James Tyler 6-2, 6-0, while Lok defeated Shamasdin 6-2, 6-1.
In the fourth spot, O'Gara dropped the only match of the day to Nick Savage-Pollock.
But it didn't matter, as midway through the second set Penn had already earned enough points for the overall win. For the purpose of saving time, the officials used a tiebreaker instead of a third set to determine the outcome of the match.
In the fifth spot, Penn senior Jimmy Fairbanks triumphed over Lief Hollowell 6-2, 7-5, earning the Quakers their sixth and final point of the day.
The matchup against a decidedly weaker UMBC team allowed Penn to get its feet wet before they travel to Florida on Friday to face powerhouse No. 11 Florida State.
"The first match is always tough," Pinsky said. "But we played very well, and it's good to get an easy match in to get some confidence and build from there."
Riley echoed Pinsky's sentiments, stressing the importance of gaining some experience before taking on more important opponents.
"In practice, you just play against your teammates all the time," he said. "It's nice to be able to play against someone else and get some real matches under our belt."
A difficult upcoming schedule will provide the team with an opportunity to prove itself on a national level.
By winning the ECAC Championships in the fall, the Quakers earned a spot in the National Indoor Championships, where they will compete against high-caliber teams.
"My two goals for this season are to win the Ivies and to earn a bid to the NCAA championships," Riley said.
Even though winning the Ivies automatically results in a trip to the National Championships, Riley said that he would also like his team to win enough matches to be in contention for an at-large bid as well.
"The only way to move up on the ladder is to beat people," he said. "All we need to do is worry about ourselves. If we do that, we can beat a lot of people."
