Five weeks after Roger Federer successfully defended his U.S. Open title at the USTA National Tennis Center in New York, the Penn men's tennis team failed to follow suit at the same venue.
The Quakers' two-year reign at the ECAC Championships met its end on Saturday with a 6-1 loss to Harvard.
"It's difficult to three-peat in anything," said first-year coach Nik DeVore. "The pressure was on us, and there was a big target on our chest."
Seeded fifth out of 16 teams heading into the tourney, Penn cruised to a 6-1 win over 12-seed Boston College in its first-round match Friday. Freshman Marcel Goodman, playing in his first collegiate tournament, netted two victories for the Quakers -- a doubles win with senior Jason Pinsky and a straight-set triumph in three-seed singles.
Harvard proved a tougher foe in the second round. Playing shorthanded after junior Jonathan Boym reinjured his shoulder in the Boston College match, Penn managed only one point against the Crimson, a straight-set singles victory for sophomore Adam Schwartz.
Boym's injury was "a very big blow for us," said Schwartz, who was a perfect 3-0 over the three-day tournament. "It's disappointing, but the main goal of our team is to win the Ivy League outright."
Relegated to the consolation bracket after the Harvard match, Penn responded with a 5-2 win over Dartmouth.
"A coach always wants to see how a team is going to respond the next day after a tough loss," DeVore said.
Despite taking two of three matches, Penn failed to gain a third-straight automatic bid to the NCAA Indoor Championships in February.
