When the Penn men's tennis team stepped on to the court Friday to participate in the ECAC Tournament, it knew that it had a target on its back. The Quakers won the tournament last year in impressive fashion and were looking to repeat.
And Penn handled the added pressure well.
"We came in confident, calm," singles and doubles player Jason Pinsky said.
The tournament began with some minor controversy as the defending champs - the highest ranked team in the event - were seeded number two instead of one.
Quakers coach Mark Riley, however, was happy to be number two.
The Quakers took the tournament one match at a time en route to a repeat victory.
Asked what match was the defining one of the tournament, Riley responded, "I think they all" were.
The Red and Blue dominated the semi-final and final rounds, beating both number 3-seed Penn State in the semis and 5-seed Columbia in the finals by the scores of 4-0.
In the finals, all three of the Quakers' singles teams easily won in straight sets, led by Pinsky's 6-1, 6-1 win over Columbia's top singles player, junior Mark Clemente. The two eight-game-pro doubles matches also ended in Penn victories.
"I was especially confident during the finals," captain and senior Mikhail Bekker said, who won his finals match, 6-2, 6-2.
The Quakers got the tournament started off in great fashion, pounding 15-seed Stony Brook, 7-0.
Next, the Quakers disposed of a feisty 7-seed Princeton team in what turned out to be Penn's most difficult match of the tournament. The Tigers' number-one singles player, sophomore Peter Capkovic, beat Pinsky, 6-4, 2-6, 10-6, and their second singles player, senior Sratha Saengsuwarn, defeated Bekker, 6-7(5), 6-3, 10-5. However, the Quakers came back to win the match, 5-2, behind three strong doubles matches.
"I think our doubles was very solid," Riley commented.
Despite the excellent performance in this tournament, the Quakers are already looking forward to the National Indoors this February. Riley aims to improve his team to a position where it could take down some top-five teams, he said.
