As the losses continued to pile up, confidence somehow never wavered for the Penn men's tennis team, though lately it has not translated to positive results on the court.
Perhaps all it needed was some home cooking, when its confidence off the court finally turned into a dominating performance. The Quakers blanked Navy 7-0 yesterday at Levy Pavilion in their first home match since February. The location was a late change from the planned venue, Lott Courts.
"We've been on the road five, six times this year playing in places like Michigan and Duke where there's been 200, 300 people cheering against us," junior co-captain Jason Pinsky said. "It feels great to finally play at home."
The Quakers (5-11) seemed to be in a comfort zone from the very start as they convincingly swept the doubles matches from the Midshipmen (6-10). The most impressive performances came from Justin Fox and Brandon O'Gara, who won their match 8-1.
Solid play continued in singles as Penn won many of its matches in lopsided fashion. Sophomore Jonathan Boym won over Jason Hill 6-1, 6-1 at the No. 2 spot and Mikhail Bekker defeated John Waters 6-1, 6-0 at No. 3.
"I played five hours of tennis in Michigan on Sunday and that really made me fit," Bekker said, referring to his three-set victory in Penn's last match. "Today I was able to play really long points without getting tired."
Pinsky experienced similar success at No. 1 as he defeated Nate Nelms 6-2, 6-2. It was not as smooth as some of the day's other victories, as Pinsky stumbled out of the gate in both sets.
After getting his serve broken to go down 0-2 in the opening set, Pinsky let out a cry of frustration. It must have worked because he came back to win the next six games.
"It just took me a while to find my rhythm because I've been playing outdoors for a little while," Pinsky said.
For many on the team, the match was about more than just beating Navy. It was a chance to finally put the season's bad memories behind them and start to look forward to the Ivy season, which opens with a match at Princeton next Saturday.
"Even though we've lost in the past to these great teams, we feel confident," Pinsky said. "It was a good match to get our bearings and to practice what we need to before the Ivy League season starts up."
Pinsky added that despite the team's record he feels they are still the favorites to win the Ivy League. His confidence may be a result of following his coach's advice.
"I just keep trying to remind them that it doesn't matter who we play, we just have to carry ourselves a certain way and work hard," coach Mark Riley said. "We're talented enough to win a lot, so that's how I look at it."
