No sunshine for M. Tennis

While the men's tennis team struggled mightily this weekend on their Florida roadtrip, Jason Lin separated himself from the pack.

The freshman recorded one of only two Penn victories Saturday against Florida Atlantic and lost in three hard-fought sets yesterday against No. 23 Miami.

"He stood out this weekend," coach Nik DeVore said. "FAU was a very good win for Jason."

Despite Lin's effort, the Quakers lost both matches, 5-2 and 7-0, respectively.

Penn fell to 2-2 on the season, as FAU and Miami improved to 5-3 and 4-2, respectively.

Junior Justen Roth added Penn's second singles victory against FAU from the No. 6 spot. The rest of the Quakers kept their matches close, but in the end it was FAU's day.

Junior Alex Vasin played Miami's No. 96 ranked player Carl Sundberg very closely, but lost by a score of 7-6, 6-3.

"Alex played a very good player down to the wire," DeVore said.

Penn No. 1 singles player Hicham Laalej had set point in the first frame against Miami No. 1 Christian Blocker, yet failed to convert, losing in two sets, 7-6, 6-0. Junior Adam Schwartz played two close matches as well, losing each set he played by only two games each.

"We came down here with the goal of winning one of the matches," DeVore said. "[But] I'm still happy with the way the team competed."

The weather hindered the Red and Blue more than the Golden Owls and Hurricanes. Penn hadn't played in an outdoor match since October.

"We weren't used to the climate," Lin said. "We've been training indoors all year."

Despite the two losses, Penn gained valuable experience from playing two very competitive teams on the road.

"We definitely gained a lot of confidence from this match," Lin said. "We know that we're able to compete with the top teams."

The Quakers are now looking ahead to the rest of the season, especially to their Ivy League schedule. Penn will seek to regain the Ivy title that it won two years ago.

"Although we were never a threat to win on Sunday against Miami, we were very competitive," DeVore said. "We look forward to the rest of the season."