Three Up, Three Down: Penn men's tennis vs. Harvard and Dartmouth

There have been few teams as solid in Ivy play so far as Penn men’s tennis, a squad that is off to a 2-1 start in conference play. The Quakers have matchups up north with No. 31 Harvard and Dartmouth. How will the Red and Blue fare in these crucial Ivy matches? We give you who is up and who is down for Penn’s weekend away from home.

Three Up

Matt Nardella — The Penn freshman is coming off a strong weekend against Yale and Brown, winning both of his singles matchups at No. 5 and winning his doubles matchup with fellow-freshman Marshall Sharp against the Bears. Nardella has been one of the few constants for the Red and Blue this year and has the potential to be a difference maker against Harvard and Dartmouth.

Denis Nguyen — The Harvard junior has been solid at No. 1 for the Crimson, going 8-3 so far on the year. Harvard has been 10-3 overall at the No. 1 spot, and Nguyen will look to continue that when the Crimson take on both Penn and Princeton over the weekend up in Cambridge.

Vim De Alwis — Despite losing his last match — at No. 2 vs. Yale — De Alwis has had a strong sophomore campaign for the Red and Blue, winning at No. 1 last weekend against Brown. The sophomore clinched that win, and he’ll try to follow that up this weekend.

Three Down

Spring Fling — With road matches on Saturday and Sunday, the Quakers won’t have the opportunity to enjoy the weekend in quite the same way as the rest of campus. Instead, the jubilation will have to come from playing some big Ivy matchups while trying to stay over .500 in the Ancient Eight.

Injuries — If you looked at the DP earlier this week, you would have seen the details of the Red and Blue’s struggles with injuries all year. Penn will have to make due with many key contributors either gone for the year (Ismael Lahlou comes to mind) or banged up, which makes for a tough weekend, especially against the nationally ranked Crimson on Saturday.

Everyone besides Columbia — Both Harvard and Dartmouth split Ivy matchups last weekend, losing to the Lions from Morningside Heights, N.Y. Columbia is the highest ranked team of any Ivy squad, and the Quakers will host the Lions a week after facing Harvard and Dartmouth. Columbia leads the Ivy League at the current moment, and it seems like none of these three squads has a strong chance of catching them.