M. Tennis drops first Ivy match to Crimson

Riding a 12-match winning streak going into Boston and coming off an electric 4-3 win over defending Ivy League champion Brown, everything was going right for the Penn men's tennis team. The Quakers were confident and ready to take another step toward winning the Ivy League championship and qualifying for the NCAA Tournament.

"We practiced hard last week, and the coaching staff knew it was important not to drop our level after the matches against Brown and Yale," senior Jimmy Fairbanks said. "We did a good job in terms of preparation."

But the team fell to Harvard, 5-2, to put an end to its winning streak and pick up its first Ivy loss.

Penn came back the next day to beat Dartmouth 5-2, but the damage had already been done.

After getting swept in the doubles and losing the No. 6 singles match to the Crimson (6-7, 2-2 Ivy), the Quakers (16-5, 4-1 Ivy) found themselves needing to win four out of the remaining five singles matches, a tall task in an Ivy League match on the road.

"We didn't do a good job in doubles, period," head coach Mark Riley said. "We can't put ourselves in that position against good teams, giving the doubles point up."

No. 44 Penn fought back when sophomore Jason Pinsky beat Ashwin Kumar, 7-5, 6-2, at No. 1 and freshman Jonathan Boym beat Sasha Ermakov, 6-1, 6-3, at No. 3 to tie the score at two-all.

But sophomore Joseph Lok lost to Dan Nguyen, 6-4, 7-5, at No. 4, and freshman Justin Fox lost to Nick Savage, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2, at No. 5 to give the Quakers their first defeat since falling to Baylor at the National Team Indoor Championships in February.

"Harvard is a good team, but we should've won," Pinsky said. "We came out with a little less intensity."

The parity in the Ivy League was apparent.

"Our league is very good, and everyone can beat each other on any given day," said junior Mikhail Bekker, who lost to Harvard's Chris Clayton, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, at No. 2. "The difference between a 5-2 win and a 5-2 loss can be a couple of points."

The Quakers made sure to win those couple of points the next day against Dartmouth (8-13, 0-4 Ivy), taking five straight singles matches after falling behind 2-0 for the second straight match.

Fairbanks made sure that the Quakers' first loss in over two months didn't prevent them from winning their next match.

Fairbanks -- a co-captain and one of just three seniors on the team -- took it upon himself to talk his teammates up in the locker room and lead some extra running drills before the Quakers' match against the Big Green on Saturday. The team responded with the win to stay on top of the standings.

"We knew Dartmouth was going to be a good match," Fairbanks said. "It's hard not to lay off after a downer loss like that. I just tried to get the guys fired up."

While the team started out by losing the doubles point again, the increase in focus was apparent in singles play.

"Of course it's disappointing to lose, but when you play the next day after a loss, it shows what kind of team you have," said Bekker, who beat Dartmouth's Jeff Schechtman, 6-4, 6-2. "We just have to move on."

Riley agreed. "The good thing is that it's been a long time since we lost and the biggest thing is how you react after the loss. Good teams lose and come out and do a good job the next day.

"The bottom line is, if we win our remaining matches, we clinch at least a share of the Ivy title. Winning a championship is still in our hands. We just have to take care of business next week" against Cornell and Columbia, he said.

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