Getting a break: Pinsky leads Penn win

"Come on! Right here!" Jason Pinsky yelled to himself when a break point presented itself in the second set. The senior captain, playing at No. 1, was up 6-3, 3-3, before winning that point to take the lead.

"I knew eventually I was going to convert it, but I just had to be patient," he said. "I had so many opportunities early on that I just had to capitalize on one of them."

Pinsky held serve to secure not only his own win, but also the team's 5-2 victory against Saint John's (5-2).

An important factor in Penn's triumph was the completeness of its doubles teams. Due to injuries throughout the season, the Quakers had not been able to play their preferred doubles lineup. Senior Eric Riley, who had been out with a groin injury, reassumed his role on the No. 2 doubles team, re-establishing the Quakers' original lineup.

"That's pretty much our doubles lineup that went 9-2 at one point," head coach Nik DeVore said. "Going into the Ivy League, this is the doubles lineup that we hope to have."

And they lived up to expectations. Pinsky and partner Joseph Lok won their match 8-3, while Riley and senior Brandon O'Gara won 8-2.

"The doubles point sets the tone for the whole match," DeVore said. "Psychologically, it's really important because you have to win three singles matches as opposed to four. It doesn't seem like a big deal, but it can really help push you over the edge."

It did just that yesterday. Four of the six singles players - Pinsky, Lok, sophomore Adam Schwartz and O'Gara - won their first-set matches, continuing the momentum built from that initial point.

"I looked down and guys are up in the first set," Pinsky said. "It gives me confidence and I can kind of play off of it."

Each of those four were then able to hold on to their second sets, and tally the 5-2 victory.

The singles players were able to go 4-2 despite missing two integral players from their lineup. DeVore made a last-minute decision to rest Riley for singles, which he said would be "much more difficult for him."

In addition, junior Jonathan Boym was kept out of the lineup altogether due to a torn shoulder muscle.

"We just decided it's going to be risky playing a team like St. John's that's very talented not to put him in there, but we thought it's all about the Ivies," DeVore said. "So if it means losing a match here because he wasn't in, so be it. But we felt like other guys would step up for us and we still could win this match."

Both Riley and Boym will be cleared to play singles on Saturday for the Ivy League opener against Princeton.

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