Temple University Athletics
Men's Tennis Falls To City-Rival Penn
1.28.09 | Men's Tennis
Jan. 28, 2009
PHILADELPHIA - Temple took a pair of singles matches to three sets but came up short in a 7-0 loss to Penn in men's tennis action on Wednesday at Levy Courts. Both freshman Filip Rams and senior Nathan Spunda dropped their decisive third sets as the Owls drop to 1-4. The Quakers, perennially one of the top teams in the Ivy League, improve to 2-0.
Penn started the match with a sweep at doubles. Hicham Laalej and Phil Law were victorious at No. 1 over Temple senior Eduardo Saavedra and Rams, 8-4. The score was the same at No. 2 as Jonathan Boym and Adam Schwartz defeated senior Ricardo Velazquez and junior Pavlos Stephanides. At No. 3, Justen Roth and Alex Vasin edged out at 8-5 win over Spunda and Dmitry Vizhunov.
Momentum carried over for the Quakers at the top of the ladder as Laalej and Boym posted straight-sets victories at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, respectively. Laalej defeated Velazquez, 6-0, 6-1, while Boym picked up a 6-1, 6-4 win over Vizhunov.
At No. 3 singles, Schwartz dropped the first set, 2-6, to Rams, the reigning A-10 Player of the Week. The junior rallied to win the final two sets for the 2-6, 7-6, 10-5 victory. Law followed suit at No. 4, putting a 4-6 defeat in the first set behind him for a 4-6, 6-2, 11-9 win over Spunda.
Alex Vasin competed at No. 5 and needed just two sets to defeat freshman Mansur Gishkaev, 6-1, 6-2. Jason Lin won his second straight match at No. 6 singles, defeating Stephanides, 6-2, 6-2.
Temple returns to the courts on Friday evening when it hosts St. Francis (NY) at 5 PM at the Arthur Ashe Tennis Center.
