Netmen Make Penn Quake and Fall, 6-3

After suffering its worst loss since 1979 to Columbia last Friday, the Harvard men's tennis team went back to the business of winning.

The netmen (4-7 overall, 1-1 EITA) bounced back to capture an exciting 6-3 victory over Penn Saturday afternoon at Beren Tennis Center.

Before the match, the Crimson tennis facility looked more like stillman Infirmary, as four of the netmen are currently nursing injuries.

"We had a lot of injuries coming into the match," Harvard's John Stinebaugh said. "Our performance in doubles pulled us through the stretch."

Things started off well for the Crimson, with Arkie Engle leading the way. Engle's match was never close, as he took control from the beginning to smash Mitch Spiegel, 6-1, 6-2.

In the numbers five and six singles, Harvard brought up a couple of members from the "B" team to fill in for a depleted line-up.

"I had a lot of confidence in their ability," Fish said. "I didn't know how it would affect our win-loss column."

Freshmen Rob Soni and Roger Barry both performed well, but heir opponents proved to be a bit stronger. Soni lost a 2-6, 7-6, 6-1 decision to Penn's Devin Shaffer, while Barry fell to Penn's Bob Surgent 7-6, 7-6.

John Stinebaugh, the Crimson's usual number seven player, was pressed to play at number four. Stinebaugh split the first two sets with Craig Freeman, but he eventually lost the final set, 6-1, to the stronger Freeman.

In the first singles match, Harvard Co-Captain Peter Palandjian fell behind early, losing the first set, 6-7, but the senior fought back to win the second set, 6-3.

Palandjian built a 5-3 lead with scorching backhand shots and powerful serves. Only two points away from victory, he served up two straight aces to win the match.

After splitting the first two sets, Paul Palandjian fell behind 3-1 to Penn's Paul Settles in the final set. But with support from his brother Peter on the next court and the majority of the Harvard squash team in the stands, the junior stormed back to tie the game at 3-3.

Palandjian blew several shots past the charging Settles to win the next three games.

"It's good to come back after losing," Harvard Coach Dave Fish said. "Out lower players came in and played well. The team played as a team. I was really pleased to see the doubles play so well."

In the second doubles match, Stinebaugh and Palandjian squashed Spiegel and Jeff Gordon in straight sets.

Meanwhile, in the third singles match, Darryl Laddin and Barry crushed Penn's Nick Dubois and Devin Shaffer, 6-1, 6-3 to clinch the victory for the Crimson.

Palandjian and Engle overwhelmed Settles and Surgent with fine net play and thunderous overhead smashes to wrap up Harvard's first Ivy win.

"We played well," Palandjian said. It's nice to know that the team can win without four starters."

THE NOTEBOOK: Harvard leads the series with Penn, 44-11, with seven shutouts...The last time Penn beat the Crimson was in 1974...Fish is 11-0 against the Quakers...The first match played against Penn was in 1920...Harvard has won 324 individual matches, while surrendering only 144...The netmen will travel to Philadelphia to take on Navy this Friday.