Quakers lock up share of Ivy title

Playing in his usual No. 3 singles spot, freshman Jonathan Boym toed the baseline on Sunday afternoon up a set and leading 5-3 in the second set against Columbia's Paul Ratchford. Boym knew that with a win the Penn men's tennis team could clinch a victory over the Lions and take home at least a share of its first Ivy League title since 1971.

Four huge serves later, the Quakers (18-5, 6-1 Ivy) were crowned champions.

"I just wanted to end that match," said Boym, whose final score was 7-5, 6-3. "I did not want to let it get to a third set."

Boym, whose game is built around his serve and forehand, used both to accomplish just that.

After winning the doubles point for just the second time in its last five matches, Penn got the quick start that it needed to put away a good Columbia team (13-5, 4-3 Ivy) that had given it some trouble in the past.

"We beat a good team, a well-coached team," Penn coach Mark Riley said. "They clinched a title against us the second year I was here [in 2001], and I was thinking about that today as we closed it out."

A 5-2 win over Cornell (11-10, 2-5 Ivy) on Friday set up the potential title-clinching match against the Lions.

It was a fitting ending to what has been an historic year for the Quakers. After winning the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships in the fall to earn an automatic bid to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Team Indoor Championships, the Quakers beat a South Carolina team that was ranked No. 10 at the time.

That was the first victory of a 12-match winning streak that was the longest in school history. The previous high was 11 matches, set in 1936.

"When I decided to transfer here [from Vanderbilt], I was looking for a school with good tennis and good academics," said sophomore Jason Pinsky, who spent most of the season playing No. 1 singles and doubles. "I knew this team was good, and I think we can keep going with this. We can win it for a while."

Pinsky and No. 4 singles player Joseph Lok are both sophomores, Boym and No. 5 singles player Justin Fox are both freshmen and No. 2 singles player Mikhail Bekker is a junior, meaning that the core of Penn's championship team will be able to defend its title.

"As we keep improving, we'll get better players as we start to put Penn tennis on the map," Pinsky said.

For Riley, Sunday's match was the culmination of a season spent stressing the importance of doing the little things right. Off the court, that meant putting in extra time at the gym and going for early morning runs. On the court, it meant cutting down on unforced errors and not making mistakes. Even his answer to how he was going to celebrate with his team showed an attention to detail: "These guys have finals to take."

Brown, the defending Ivy League champion, also has just one loss. The Bears take on Yale today in a match that will determine whether Penn will win the Ivy League outright or not. If Brown wins, it will share the title with Penn.

The match also has implications for the NCAA tournament. Typically, the winner of the Ivy League receives an automatic bid into the tournament, but in the event that the title is shared, the teams will play a one-match playoff at a site to be determined.

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