Coming into Wednesday’s matchup with Georgetown, the Penn men’s tennis team only needs to look at recent history to like its chances.
Fresh off their first win of the spring season on Feb. 3, the Quakers (1-1) are looking to capture back-to-back victories with a win at Levy Pavilion this afternoon.
Historically, Penn has dominated the Hoyas (0-4) on the court, having won their last 22 meetings, including a 6-1 victory at Levy last season.
And while the Red and Blue have been off for 10 days after defeating Buffalo, the squad remains focused heading into the matches on Wednesday.
“I think we’re [still] pretty confident after the Buffalo match,” assistant coach Ty Schaub said. “We played pretty well overall and it’s always good to get a win like that.”
In order to prepare for a tough Georgetown team, the Quakers have pushed hard in practice to maintain their early-season momentum.
“The layoff really should not make a big difference,” Schaub said. “We’ve played a lot of match play in practice to keep the guys fresh.”
Although coach Schaub acknowledged that “it’s tough to simulate a real match,” the team is doing the best it can.
The Quakers will rely heavily on sophomore Jeremy Court in both singles and doubles. Court is the only player on the team to win both of his singles matches this season.
While Penn is looking to build on its team win against Buffalo, the Hoyas are still searching for their first win of the season.
Georgetown has dropped its first four matches of the season by a combined score of 17-7. The team most recently fell at Toledo, 4-3, on Feb. 2.
Though the Hoyas have already played four matches this season, their relative lack of success has not exactly sent opponents running for the hills.
Still, the Quakers won’t be taking Georgetown lightly on Wednesday.
Led by senior captain Charlie Caris and junior Casey Distaso, the Hoyas pushed Campbell and Toledo to the brink, before eventually falling in both matches.
“They have some new guys this season who are pretty good,” Schaub said. “They also have some of the same guys, but we’ve seen them a lot and kind of know what to expect when we face them.”
In Penn’s first two matches this season, the team has used the same six players in singles matches. That could change on Wednesday, depending on the specific matchups that the Hoyas present.
“We might mix [the lineup] up a little bit,” Schaub said. “You may see the same six guys, but we’ll probably change the lineup around.
“We’re going to be mixing it up the whole year because we have a good number of guys with a lot of talent.”
No matter what lineup the Quakers send out on Wednesday, they will be trying to get off to a strong start in the doubles matches.
“The doubles point is so important,” Schaub said. “It sets the tone for singles, and helps out psychologically.”
And if Penn can secure that doubles point, it makes it all the more likely that the team’s winning streak over Georgetown will extend to 23.
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