Penn men's tennis pulls out hard-fought win over Georgetown, 4-3

The streak continues.

On Saturday afternoon in the nation’s capital, Penn men’s tennis took on Georgetown in both teams’ first competition since separate road trips out west. The For the 24th consecutive time, the Quakers took down the Hoyas, led by former Penn coach Gordie Ernst, 4-3. The Quakers are now 30-1 all-time against Georgetown.

Since Ernst took the helm at Georgetown (5-8), the two programs have played each other more frequently.

“I like to schedule Gordie, and we’ve had three close ones with them,” Penn coach David Geatz said.

Indeed, they have. Just last year, Penn took the last three sets to earn another narrow 4-3 win.

That win was capped off by then-freshman Vim De Alwis’ win over Georgetown’s Shane Korber. Saturday saw a rematch of that crucial match, with De Alwis coming out on top again.

But that wasn’t the only thing reminiscent of last year’s meet. The Quakers (4-8) also had to rally back to come out with the win. After dropping the doubles point and the No. 1 singles match, Penn found itself in a 2-0 hole before de Alwis at No. 2 and No. 5 freshman Marshall Sharp won their matches to knot it up at two.

And this match also came down to the final match, a battle between Penn sophomore Zack Lessen and Georgetown's John Brosens. Brosens took the first set, but like De Alwis did last year, Lesson fought back to take the next two, finishing it off by winning the third set in a tiebreaker to give the match to the Red and Blue.

“Lessen was pretty tough,” Geatz said. “[Brosens] was really athletic, and it just came down to a couple of big points here and there, and Lessens really responded to the challenge.”

Geatz is particularly impressed how far the sophomore has come since arriving at Penn.

“I’d bet he’s the only three start recruit who’s starting and winning some matches,” Geatz said, noting that most players come with five-star rankings.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Red and Blue which accumulated over their spring break stint in California.

The Quakers will look to carry this momentum as they finish off their nonconference schedule by hosting another Big East opponent, St. John’s, on Wednesday.

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