Transfer of power for M. Tennis

With a dozen of his friends watching and the crowd "oohing" and "aahing" his every move, Hicham Laalej laced a forehand down the left side of the court. The ball whizzed just over the net and landed inches inside the white line for yet another winner.

It was that kind of day for the revamped men's tennis team and its highly-touted transfer in its regular season opener against Drexel. The Quakers did not drop a set to their 33rd street rivals in a dominating 7-0 victory.

"The first match is always tough," Penn coach Nik DeVore said. "It's dangerous because on paper we're supposed to beat Drexel handily like we did, but last year we won 5-2 in a match that was closer than I thought it should have been."

Junior No. 3 Adam Schwartz passed the toughest test, defeating Drexel sophomore Mehdi Rhazali in a hard-fought win, 6-4, 7-5. Meanwhile, senior captain and No. 2 Jonathan Boym proved he is fully recovered from the shoulder injury that plagued him last season by beating senior Carlo Pangilinan, 6-3, 6-3.

But the day was owned by Laalej, a junior transfer from Stetson, where he ranks number one in career winning percentage (.917) with a 44-4 record.

With success coming so easily, Laalej challenged himself by making the switch to Penn.

"I wanted to try something new to enrich my experience," Laalej said. "Penn's academic excellence and its location in big Philadelphia [were] very attractive to me."

The Morocco native - with the enthusiastic support of many Moroccan friends - overpowered his singles opponent, Joe Koebele, en route to a 6-2, 6-1 triumph following his 8-5 doubles win with freshman Phil Law.

At 6-foot-6, 205 pounds, Laalej is built to withstand the pressure of playing at a new school with all eyes on him. He looks at the attention in a different way.

"It's not pressure that I feel when they are there cheering me on, but support," Laalej said. "When I know how badly they want me to win, it makes me want to try harder."

Despite Laalej's fast start with Penn, DeVore still sees room for improvement.

"He had a sprained ankle that kept him out for like two months in the fall so . he's not moving as well as he could be," DeVore said.

"I think he's going to really tone up over the next few weeks . [and] by the end of the season he could be nationally ranked and be the No. 1 player in the [Ivy] league."

Laalej's older brother by three years, Omar, was part of the home crowd. Like Hicham, the elder Laalej enjoyed an illustrious career at a small school - in his case Drury College, where he went 42-4 in singles play - before moving to Philadelphia prior to his junior year. Omar was Drexel's No. 1 from 2005-2007.

The similarities between the Laalej brothers apparently end there, according to Drexel coach Tricia Udicious.

"Omar looks more like a clay-courter," Udicious explained. "They're both fantastic players. Hicham's a little bigger. [He] has a little bigger game [and a] bigger serve. But I'd like to see them against each other."

Hicham recalls that his older brother usually defeated him when they were kids, but how would the Laalej family match play out today? DeVore has an idea.

"It would be 7-6 in the third, one way or the other," DeVore said. "That's what they would want me to say."

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