M. Tennis | Comeback cut short

On the surface, the ECAC championships - intended to be the final tune-up before the outdoor season - may not immediately reveal much about the future for the men's tennis team. The squad entered the tournament as the fourth seed and left the tournament as the fourth seed.

But the Quakers may have gained insight into their team's character. They battled back from a 3-0 deficit against top-seeded Harvard Sunday before ultimately succumbing, 4-3.

"Although it was tough to have it slip away, in my 10 years of coaching I have never seen a team show as much mental toughness in coming back," Penn coach Nik Devore said.

Harvard entered the tournament as the overwhelming favorite. The Crimson have been the dominant force in Ivy League tennis for the past four years and had the benefit of playing on their home court.

As Devore said, nobody would have predicted that Penn, which finished fourth in the Ivy League last year, would be within a point from pulling off the huge upset.

Harvard jumped out to that 3-0 lead quickly with convincing victories in doubles play and at No. 2 and No. 5 singles. However, after junior Adam Schwartz won his No. 3 singles match in straight sets and freshman Phil Law took the first set at No. 4 singles, the Quakers started picking up momentum.

Then freshman Jason Lin held off his opponent in No. 6 singles after splitting the first two sets, and Law's eventual victory set the table for a showdown in No. 1 singles that ultimately proved to be the deciding factor.

The decisive match between Penn's Hicham Laalej and Harvard's Alexei Chijoff-Evans did not disappoint. The two traded games for nearly three hours and split the first two sets. In the third-set tiebreaker, Laalej staved off four match points before Chijoff- Evans was finally able to put it away.

"It was one of the most exciting matches that I have ever seen and one that I will remember for the rest of my life," senior Jonathan Boym said.

The Quakers were not even certain that they would reach the semifinals, as a tough Cornell opponent awaited in the opening draw. However, the Quakers rode dominating straight-set victories by top three seeds Laalej, Boym and Schwartz to edge out a 4-3 win over the No. 5 Big Red.

"I was impressed because we immediately came out and made a statement that we are at the top of the Ivy League," Boym said. "It was the first Ivy League match for the freshmen and each played extremely well."

After the Harvard loss, the Quakers faced No. 3 Brown in a consolation match. Laalej and Boym did not play, so Schwartz was forced into the No. 1 singles spot, where he reached a third set before retiring due to an injury.

Although Penn was unable to win a match in the 6-0 defeat, the Quakers left the tournament feeling positive.

"We played without several players, and we had a four-hour match that ended at nine o'clock the night before, so the guys aren't too worried," Devore said. "This weekend, we proved that we can play with anybody."

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