It's been a long season for the Penn men's tennis team.
Between winning the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships in Flushing Meadows, N.Y., in the fall, playing in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Indoor Championships in Seattle over the winter and kicking off the spring with a road trip to Florida, the Quakers (16-5, 4-1 Ivy) have logged thousands of miles on the road and hundreds of matches on the court.
This weekend, two matches will determine whether they will be able to look at this season as a success.
The Quakers travel to Ithaca, N.Y., today to face Cornell (10-8, 2-3 Ivy) and then host Columbia (12-4, 3-2 Ivy) on Sunday to close out their Ivy League season. Penn will clinch at least a share of the Ivy League title if it wins both matches.
"We have to remember that we can control things," head coach Mark Riley said. "Everybody else in the league is looking at what we're going to do."
No. 50 Penn has been the top-ranked Ivy League team for most of the season and defeated defending Ivy League champion Brown on April 8.
"We have a target on our backs," Riley said. "Most of the matches, we've been the favorite, so it's been a different challenge for us."
After reeling off 12 consecutive victories over a span of almost two months, the team finally lost to Harvard last weekend, 5-2. The loss tightened up the Ivy race, as Brown (3-1) and Yale (3-1) each have one loss and are only a half game behind Penn.
However, the Quakers are playing without the weight of a record streak and will concentrate on taking advantage of being the front-runner in the league.
"I never realized the weight of winning all those matches, but the guys were pressing a little against Harvard," Riley said. "If we just play good matches [today] and Sunday, we'll be fine."
At this point in the year, most teams are battling fatigue or injuries, and the Quakers are no different.
"The season's almost over, and we really have to put everything we've got on the table," junior Mikhail Bekker said. "Everyone gets tired, but we've got to win both matches, not just one of them."
Freshman Jonathan Boym added, "We've been waiting for this the whole season. All the matches in Seattle and Florida were for these two matches."
Brown and Yale will play each other on Wednesday.
Both the Bears and the Elis have beaten Harvard this year, the team that accounted for Penn's only league loss this season.
Winning an Ivy League title and qualifying for the NCAA Tournament have been the Quakers' goals all year. If Penn were to take both matches this weekend to win the Ivies outright, it would receive an automatic bid into the postseason tournament.
If two teams end up sharing the title, there will be a one-match playoff held at a neutral site to determine which team would get the bid.
Riley is confident that the team will respond to the implications of this weekend's matches.
"This group always does better when we have to win," Riley said. "Now, we have to win, so I have a good feeling about that."
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