Acing the local competition

After a tough loss last week against Old Dominion, the Penn men's tennis team could've dwelled on the past.

But instead the Quakers rebounded back in style on yesterday, finishing with big wins against Temple and Bucknell.

The Quakers went undefeated in both singles and doubles against Temple, winning the match 7-0. They were only slightly less successful against Bucknell, winning two of three doubles matches and five of six singles matches en route to a 6-1 victory.

The Quakers (5-1) made it look easy against Temple (2-6), defeating their opponents one by one in short matches. No singles match went more than two sets, and the closest set was 6-4.

"Our top three players really picked their games up," said Penn head coach Nik DeVore.

"They were off the court pretty quickly. Their doubles were 30-40 minutes, their singles were less than an hour, and they were off."

The Quakers' top two doubles teams won by a combined 16-0. No. 1 singles Jason Pinsky did not drop a single game in a straight-set victory over the Owls's Ricardo Velazquez.

The afternoon matchups required a bit more fight.

The top two doubles teams only won by a 16-9 margin, and the No. 3 tandem of Dmitry Bury and Zach Gorn lost. Pinsky won in straight sets again in singles, but it was a tight back-and-forth contest.

"He had a pretty big game," Pinsky said of his opponent, Ira Reibeisen. "Big serve, hit it really flat, which on these kinds of courts is really quick. He had a lot of power and was a tough player."

But Pinksy pulled out the win, 7-5, 7-6, finally wrapping up the day's competitions as the time neared 8 p.m. - nine hours after the Quakers first took the court.

"His opponent went for a little bit too much under pressure too soon in a point, probably because of nerves," DeVore noted of Pinksy's matchup. "Pinksy's known for being a real grinder, and very strong mentally, so I think that won out in the end."

But the already depleted Quakers - juniors Jonathan Boym and Justin Fox sat out Sunday's matches with injuries - suffered yet another setback. Joseph Lok strained a tendon in his right leg and was forced to retire during his second set of his match against Bucknell.

Lok had won the first set 7-5 and was up 5-4 in the second, but the injury made this the only singles loss for the Quakers on the day.

Despite the dominating performances, DeVore said that there areas in which he wants his team to improve. He plans to continue tinkering with the No. 3 doubles position, and to have his team work on closing out second sets better.

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