The Penn men's tennis team followed the lead of its two most experienced players in dominating a doubleheader on Saturday against Richmond and St. Joseph's.
Two weeks removed from what coach Mark Riley called a "flunked test" against a solid Michigan team, the team played what Riley called a "complete team effort," led by senior Fanda Stejskal and junior co-captain Ryan Harwood.
Against Richmond, who the Quakers beat, 6-1, Stejskal and Harwood breezed, 8-1, in doubles.
Using the momentum from his double's victory, at No. 1 singles, Stejskal smoked the Spiders' David Dunn, 6-1, 6-2, winning his ninth straight match at home.
"I started off really well in the match, I broke him right away and just went with the flow the rest of the way," Stejskal said. "It feels really good playing here in front of the home crowd."
Harwood did not have the same immediate success as Stejskal did in singles, quickly falling behind, 3-0, in the first set against Dan Scrafford at No. 3.
"I think I was just rushing the points a little bit, I wasn't concentrating fully," Harwood said. "I needed to get in my groove a little bit."
Harwood got his groove back, as he stormed back to win the first set, 7-5, and then won the second, 6-4, to pick up the triumph.
"Me and Fanda are actually playing very well right now, the best we've played since we've been here," Harwood said.
In the other matchups against Richmond, freshman doubles tandem David Lynn and Craig Rubin won their match, 8-5, and followed Stejskal and Harwood's leads in singles cruising to a pair of victories of their own.
In the other doubles match, senior Brian Barki and freshman Todd Lecher won, 8-2. Lecher went on to lose what was by far the most competitive singles match of the day, falling to Jeppy Moss, 7-5, 2-6, 7-5.
In the No. 4 singles match, Penn junior Andy Kolker crushed Matt Cabana, 6-2, 6-0.
Riley was relieved to see the maturity in his team from the last match to this one.
"Today we came out and we never let them get in the match," he said. "[This] is what you should do against people you should beat."
In the second half of the doubleheader, in its 7-0 win over St. Joseph's, Penn continued its doubles mastery.
Stejskal and Harwood led the way, 8-1, and teams of Anthony Pu and Lynn, as well as Barki and Kolker, both won, 8-2.
Riley then decided to rest many of his regulars, giving a chance for many of the freshmen to play.
Kolker and Barki both won in straight sets at No. 1 and 2, and freshmen played the last four courts.
Rookie teammates Anthony Pu, Sean Montgomery, Justin Gordon and Justin Hunter all won in straight sets, with none giving up more than three games in one set.
"For me, it was a joy for me to watch [the freshmen] play, because they work just as hard as everyone else," Riley said.
"I thought we were a team today, which makes me feel good."
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