M. Tennis is seeing good signs so far in '09

Against Philadelphia teams, the Penn men's tennis squad knows how to win - and win big.

In their first match of the season, the Quakers beat Drexel, 7-0.

Yesterday, the Red and Blue won another 7-0 match, this time against Temple.

The Quakers, now 2-0, were able to keep the Owls (1-3) off the scoreboard by winning all of their doubles matches. Temple, though, took some of the later singles sets.

"It could've been 5-2 because we had to come from behind at number three and four singles," coach Nik DeVore said, "and it could've gone either way."

In the last matches of the night, freshman Phil Law and junior captain Adam Schwartz each clinched the shutout by winning third-set tiebreakers.

Schwartz lost the first set, 6-2, to Temple's Filip Rams.

"I was a little surprised at the beginning," Schwartz said of his competitor. "He was a very, very good player."

Schwartz adjusted his approach and won the second set, 7-6.

"I tried to just slow down because he had a really big serve," Schwartz said. "I was just hoping that I could keep holding his serve and maybe just one game get a look at his serve speed."

By the third set, Schwartz and Rams were the only players on the court, and even though Penn was ensured a win, both Temple and Penn fans screamed over each other as if the score were 0-0.

After Schwartz won the second set, one of his teammates yelled, "That's a sign, baby, that's a sign."

Due to the already-determined win, the third set was cut short when Schwartz scored the final point of the game, ending the set 1-0.

Temple has seven international players and previously lost, 5-2, to nationally-ranked William and Mary on Jan. 18.

Schwartz's and Law's wins came against the two Owls players who picked up the wins against the Tribe.

"That was good for their confidence to beat players that had been doing very well," DeVore said.

Junior Hicham Laalej, the ITA Northeast Region's No. 10 player, played in the court next to Schwartz.

Laalej won his doubles match with the help of Law and went on to quickly defeat Temple in his singles match.

"I'm still trying to keep the bar really high, and I want to continue with that record I had," Laalej said of his success with both the Quakers this year and at Stetson last season.

"I just want to keep doing well, so every time I step onto the court, I think, 'I'm not going to lose.'"

Senior Jonathan Boym came back from a shoulder injury and got a singles win for the Quakers, but DeVore named junior Alex Vasin as the "standout" player of the match. Vasin won his sets 6-1 and 6-2.

"Alex just took care of business," DeVore said.

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