Junior Jason Pinsky fought hard in his semifinal tennis match. Behind the supportive crowd that shouted "Go Pinsky!" after almost every point, he came up with numerous scrappy shots.
In the end, however, the home crowd left disappointed as a strong start to the third set by Virginia Tech's Arvid Puranen proved to be too much for Pinsky, Penn's top-seeded player, to overcome.
"It was the second year in a row that I lost in the semifinals which is pretty disappointing because only the top two get to go to the National Indoors," Pinsky said.
Despite that loss, Pinsky headed a strong Penn showing at the ITA Northeast Regionals, which were held at Levy Pavilion on Penn's campus from Thursday to Tuesday. While the men were in action at home, juniors Julia Koulbitskaya and Yulia Rivelis of the women's tennis team traveled to Hanover, N.H., to participate in their ITA Northeast Regional Tournament.
"We had a couple of guys out because of illness, so we got some other guys a chance to play," men's coach Mark Riley said. "Everyone competed really well."
Junior Brandon O'Gara, freshmen Adam Schwartz and Eric Riley all made it to the round of 64 before losing. Freshman Alex Vasin lost in the round of 128. O'Gara lost a heartbreaker to Dave Waslen of Dartmouth, 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(1), Schwartz fell to 7-seed Louis Desmarteaux of St. John's, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, and Riley lost to Penn State's Ryan Berger, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
The doubles team of Pinsky/Riley locked in a 4-seed but lost to eventual champions, Brown, 8-3, in the round of 16. The other Penn team of O'Gara/Schwartz was not as fortunate, as they lost to a Virginia Tech team in the round of 32.
Pinsky, aided by his No. 3 tournament ranking, skated through the early matches, not dropping a single set until the round of 16, where he took down 12-seed Chris Clayton of Harvard, 6-1, 6-7(6), 6-3.
After another straight set victory in the round of eight, he played Puranen. Pinsky lost the first set 3-6 in quick fashion, but behind the home support that heckled Puranen, he played an inspired second set, winning 6-3. By the third set, however, Pinsky had run out of gas. Puranen jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, winning 6-1.
Koulbitskaya and Rivelis also had a successful ITA Tournament.
"I think, in general, my groundstrokes and baseline game felt pretty comfortable," Rivelis said.
She was seeded No. 11 in singles, and advanced all the way to the quarterfinals before losing to No. 6-seed Lena Litvak from Harvard. Her run included an upset of No. 4 Marianne Baker of Maryland, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Eight-seed Koulbitskaya advanced to the round of 16 before losing to No. 10-seed Eleanor Peters from Maryland, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(2).
"I thought I fought really well through my matches," Koulbitskaya said.
Koulbitskaya and Rivelis earned a 7-seed in doubles, which led to another magical run, where they ended up losing to 2-seed Lynzee Kever and Kellie Schmitt from Marshall, 8-4.
While Koulbitskaya and Rivelis competed at Dartmouth, seven other members of the team competed at the Princeton Invitational against Columbia, Princeton and Virginia.
The women won four of five against the Lions, three of six against Virginia and four of six in singles against the Tigers.
