Senior captain Jonathan Boym has been waiting almost two years for this, the start of the 2009 spring tennis season. After sitting out most of his junior campaign with a shoulder injury, Boym can't wait to get back on the court.
"I'm really excited," Boym said. "I didn't expect to be out this long."
The Quakers open their season at home tomorrow against local rival Drexel for the second straight year. In 2008, the Red and Blue struggled a bit against the Dragons but still won the match, 5-2.
"Sometimes when the opposing team looked inferior on paper, our team wasn't as focused as they should have been," Penn coach Nik DeVore said.
Yet this is a new season, and after losing five players from last year's team, Penn only has 10 players on its roster.
"At this point, anyone on the team could play at any given spot on any given day," said Boym, who was the Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2006 and All-Ivy one season later.
"I can assure you everyone will be ready to play at singles and doubles."
Boym was also pleased with the way in which the team's juniors have stepped up as leaders. Adam Schwartz, Justen Roth, Alex Vasin and Jeff Karsh all return from last year, although Vasin missed a lot of action due to disagreements with DeVore.
"I feel great about the whole team," Boym said. "The juniors have stepped up and shown a lot of maturity."
With three key new players - junior transfer Hicham Laalej and freshmen Phil Law and Jason Lin - jelling as a team was an early concern for Penn. Yet DeVore has already tried different pairings and said they have all worked nicely together.
Although the Quakers want to defeat Drexel on Saturday, the team's main goal is to use the match to prepare for the Ancient Eight slate.
"Our ultimate goal is to re-gain the Ivy League title," Boym said.
Penn shared the crown in 2007 with Columbia and in 2006 with Brown. The Quakers finished fifth last year but expect to take care of business at home against a weaker Drexel squad tomorrow.
"We're pretty confident about this match," Boym said.
"This is my last semester at Penn, and I'm going to leave it all out on the court."
