USTA Intercollegiate Competition | Boym serves for redemption

For Jonathan Boym, the USTA Intercollegiate Competition this weekend is the beginning of his swan song, a final chance to wash away the bitter taste of his junior year campaign.

Boym, along with the now-graduated Jason Pinsky, co-captained the Quakers to a 12-11 mark in their 2007-08 season.

Expecting to win the outright Ivy title after two co-championships, Penn finished with a 3-4 league record, including end-of-the year-losses to Cornell and Columbia, which gave Boym his first taste of a losing mark in Ancient Eight play.

But this year will be different, Boym believes, starting with this weekend's event. Although the Ivy League season is still far away, Boym stressed the importance of starting off the season well.

Recent history supports his belief. Last season, the Quakers had a disappointing fall - losing in the second round of the Eastern College Athletic Conference championships - and suffered through a six-meet losing streak in the spring.

In the two years prior, the Red and Blue won ECACs and, later, Ivy co-championships.

Boym believes that this year's team is special.

"I have been here four years, and this is pretty much the first year I could say our team as a whole is a cohesive unit," he said.

Junior Hicham Laalej, a transfer from Stetson who brings his 44-4 record and No. 105 preseason ITA ranking with him to Penn, agrees with Boym's assessment.

"We work really hard, but when we have free time, we talk about school and other tournaments we have coming up," Laalej said. "It's really a great network that we have."

From his short time here, Laalej has been quite impressed by the structure put in place by coach Nik DeVore and assistant coach Josh Cohen. He raved about Cohen's willingness to hit extra balls after practice, citing that as just one example of the staff's dedication.

But Laalej isn't the only newcomer who has helped breathe life into the team, with freshmen Phil Law and Jason Lin also providing sparks. Boym is the team's only senior, but he sees that as a plus, saying that the freshmen have brought a newfound hunger to the team.

"This week in practice, I was very impressed with our younger guys, especially the way they came out here and competed with some of the other players on our team," Boym said.

So in Flushing, N.Y., this weekend, Boym will lead the Quakers as he embarks on his last chance to accomplish what every Ivy League athlete wants, the feat that was expected of the team he co-captained last year: winning the Ivy League title - outright, this time.

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