The spotlight isn’t supposed to shine on the team until the spring, but Penn men’s tennis is making plenty of noise in the fall season.
Last weekend, the Quakers dominated the third annual Penn Invitational, capturing 29 total wins over the course of three days.
Sixteen teams descended on the Hamlin Tennis Center — including Ivy foes Columbia, Cornell, Princeton and Yale — but none presented a particularly stout challenge to the Red and Blue, who placed first overall.
Two different Penn players of far different experience levels posted perfect records on the weekend, giving a sign of the team’s present and future.
Senior Jeremy Court — who went 20-15 last year — got his season off to a strong start, winning all three singles matches he competed in. Court would also team up with freshman Nicholas Podesta to win an additional three doubles contests.
It was one of Podesta’s classmates, though, that stole the show.
Fellow newcomer Josh Pompan , a Salinas, Calif. native, turned heads with a perfect 4-0 singles performance over the course of the tournament. Pompan won three of those matches in straight sets, with only St. John’s Freddy Ruiz Acevado pushing him to a third set tiebreaker on Friday.
Overall, the Red and Blue went 10-7 against their Ancient Eight opponents, which is especially heartening given the team’s 2-5 performance against League foes in the 2014 spring season.
2015’s spring campaign is a long way away, but Penn’s early fall results suggest that record could swing in a different direction this time around.
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