International flavor heads to Philly

A compilation of international tennis players will descend upon Philadelphia this weekend and they all have one thing in common -- they play for Old Dominion. The seven-player squad represents five different countries including Sweden, Romania, Brazil, India, and South Africa. Penn (3-1) will host No. 68 Old Dominion (5-2) on Sunday after last weekend's shutout at the hands of No. 52 Virginia. The Quakers remain eager to get back on the court and back into the win column. "As a group, we have to beat a team like Virginia or Old Dominion for us to get confident in what direction we're going," Penn coach Mark Riley said. "They're a really good team, up there probably with Virginia," Penn sophomore David Lynn said. "We're all going to have to step up and play at the top of our game because they're solid from top to bottom." The Quakers have worked hard in practice this week by focusing more on match play than individual drills. "I think we had a really good week of practice," Lynn said. "Everyone was pretty intense and fired up, we weren't really that down, and we're looking forward to the opportunity." Old Dominion features the fourth-ranked doubles team in the country -- Romanian Zoltan Csandi and South African Izak van der Merwe. The international duo has not dropped a match this year, however, two of their matches were extended to a 9-8 score. Penn's first-seeded doubles team, consisting of senior co-captain Ryan Harwood and sophomore Anthony Pu, is looking forward to the challenge of playing such a heralded opponent. "I think it is a great opportunity and I'm excited about Anthony and I matching up with them," Harwood said. "Basically, whenever you play a team of such a high caliber, you have to go in there and play your hardest," Pu said. "I have to admit that after hearing about some of their results it is a little intimidating, but you just have to go out there and work your hardest." Old Dominion's two defeats on the season were narrow losses to teams that are ranked in the top 25 -- Wake Forest and Virginia Commonwealth. The Quakers see this weekend's match-up as a great opportunity to rebound from last weekend's loss to Virginia. "I think we couldn't have asked for anything better," Harwood said. "We didn't want a team that we we're going to be favored against as our next match. We want another opportunity to knock off somebody who is ranked higher than us."

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