PHILADELPHIA – Penn opened its 2009 men’s tennis season with a 7-09 victory over neighboring Drexel at the Levy Tennis Pavilion on Saturday. The Quakers swept every match held – including all three doubles contests – en route to the victory.
“We are pretty happy with the overall effort today,” head coach Nik DeVore said. “Drexel is a solid team, so to win this match without losing a set was good for us.”
Penn was in control throughout the majority of the match, with only the No. 3 match seeing sets that were won by only two points. Penn’s Adam Schwartz held tough, defeating Mehdi Rhazali, 6-4, 7-5.
The day started with doubles and Penn took all three matches to earn the first point of the match. Penn’s No. 1 team of Hicham Laalej and Phil Law defeated Joe Koebele and Carlo Pangilinan, 8-5. At No. 2, senior captain Jonathan Boym and Schwartz defeated the 57th-ranked team in the country, Sabyasachi Bose and Jason Savage-Polock, 8-3. Justen Roth and Zach Gorn rounded out the sweep for Penn with an 8-5 win over Rhazali and Bryan Nguyen.
Laalej ensured he went 2-for-2 on the day with a win at No. 1 over Koebele, 6-2,, 6-1. Boym played his first singles match of the year and defeated Pangilian, by matching 6-3 sets.
At No. 4, Law scored a win with a 6-1, 6-3 defeat of Bose. Nos. 5 and 6 saw Penn start players who didn’t play in doubles, and Alex Vasin and Jason Lin came through with identical 6-3, 6-2 wins.
With the win, Penn starts the season 1-0. Up next is Temple at home on Jan. 28 at 4 p.m.
Penn def. Drexel, 7-0
Doubles
No. 1 Hicham Laalej/Phil Law (Penn) def. Joe Koebele/Carol Pangilinan (DU), 8-5
No. 2 Jonathan Boym/Adam Schwartz (Penn) def. #57 Sabyasachi Bose/Jason Savage-Pollock (DU), 8-3
No. 3 Justen Roth/Zach Gorn (Penn) def. Mehdi Razali/Bryan Nguyen (DU), 8-5
Penn wins point, 3-0
Singles
No. 1 Laalej (Penn) def. Koebele (DU), 6-2, 6-1
No. 2 Boym (Penn) def. Pangilinan (DU), 6-3, 6-3
No. 3 Schwartz (Penn) def. Rhazali (DU), 6-4, 7-5
No. 4 Law (Penn) def. Bose (DU). 6-1, 6-3
No. 5 Alex Vasin (Penn) def. Savage-Pollock (DU), 6-3, 6-2
No. 6 Jason Lin (Penn) def. Nguyen (DU), 6-3, 6-2
