With its fall season nearing an end, the Penn men's tennis team descended upon New York City along with 11 other schools for the Columbia Classic.
But in the 'B' singles final, only Quakers took center stage, as freshman Phil Law beat classmate and teammate Jason Lin to take the championship.
Adam Schwartz, the lone member of the Quakers to compete in the 'A' singles draw, managed to reach the semifinals before losing to Cornell's Jon Jaklitsch, 6-4, 7-5.
With the exception of Justen Roth reaching the finals of the 'C' draw, however, the rest of the team did not fare well at the tournament, moved up from its usual January date to help players prepare for the ITA Northeast Regional Championships.
All three Penn doubles teams - Schwartz and Alex Vasin in the 'A' draw, Lin/Roth and Law/Dmitry Bury in the 'B' draw - lost in their respective first rounds.
Coach Nik DeVore did not return phone and e-mail messages seeking comment.
Last night, he and his players traveled to Yale for the Regionals, the last tournament of the fall season. The New Haven, Conn., event will showcase top players from 40 schools, 10 of which participated at the Columbia Invite. That sets up plenty of opportunities for rematches from last weekend.
In the main draw, Hicham Laalej has a bye in the first round, while Vasin will face Boston College's Erik Kreutzer. Schwartz will play Nate Gorham, who led Brown in its tournament last weekend with a 5-0 record.
Lin - the No. 8 seed - Roth and Law will face stiff competition in the qualifying singles bracket.
