Jason Pinsky left no doubt about the importance of yesterday's No. 1 singles match against Saint John's Artem Vlasenko.
He drove the message home on the very first point.
A high-arcing Pinsky forehand sailed just a little longer than desired. Vlasenko let the ball bounce without a return, signaling that the ball landed out.
Pinsky was sure it had clipped the line.
"What?" he asked, throwing his arms outward with incredulity.
He assumed a stoic plea of innocence, and only after the match referee confirmed the bad news - "out, yes" - did he gingerly return to the service line.
The point was lost, but the message was sent.
"I knew the match was going to be competitive," he said afterward. "I just wanted to make sure things were gonna be clean throughout."
There was no prior history - Pinsky and Vlasenko, a transfer from Chattanooga, had never met.
But Pinsky knew the state of his team. The doubles lineup had only recently been reconstructed after the return of Eric Riley.
The singles team still had a ways to go, with Jonathan Boym out injured and Brandon O'Gara, normally a doubles player, slotted at No. 6.
Against a Red Storm team that had threatened nationally-ranked schools, a strong performance at No. 1 singles was even more vital.
"If they can look at the scoreboard and see I'm doing well, it really helps out the other guys," Pinsky said.
A couple of devastating forehand winners propelled the senior to an early break of serve. In 15 quick minutes he pushed himself to a 3-0 lead, and by the time he had wrapped the set up, Penn controlled most of the singles matches.
The Quakers needed to win only three of the six matches, though, thanks to a strong performance in the earlier doubles matches.
The story is a familiar one. The matches were no more than five minutes old when Alex Svetlakov of St. John's disputed a would-be Brandon O'Gara ace at No. 2 doubles.
Svetlakov let out a yelp, enjoying a little fun at O'Gara's expense. The two exchanged testy words, and O'Gara muttered something unprintable after he and teammate Riley walked off with an 8-2 win.
Penn surprised even coach Nik DeVore when its No. 1 doubles followed suit for a comfortable win against their heralded New York counterparts.
"[St. John's] swept Harvard in doubles . and Harvard's probably the team to beat in the Ivy League," he said.
DeVore knew he was banking - gambling, really - on grabbing that mental edge by resting the talented Boym with the Ivy League slate approaching.
His entire doubles squad finally healthy, he leaned on the pairs teams - and later, Pinsky - to lead Penn to victory.
"Psychologically, [it was] really important. Doubles set the tone for the entire match," he said.
"To see us handle them that way . they just kind of faded away."
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