PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania men's tennis team will put its undefeated record at home on the line this weekend when it hosts the ECAC Tournament at Hecht Tennis Center.
Joining the Quakers in the ECAC Tournament are Dartmouth, Princeton, Harvard, Cornell, Brown, and Yale. The ECAC Tournament will begin Friday at 9 a.m., with Penn playing its first match against Cornell at 3 p.m.
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Previewing Penn
The Quakers ride a six-match winning streak at home as they head into the ECAC tournament this weekend. Last week against VCU, freshman
Edoardo Graziani came back from a set down and 4-3 in the third set to avenge Penn's, 4-2, loss to the Rams last season. Graziani's win clinched the victory for the Red and Blue. The Quakers then went on to sweep Fordham, 7-0.
Penn enters the ECAC Tournament seeded fifth. A win against Cornell would set up a meeting with top-seeded Dartmouth - who received a bye - on Saturday at 12 p.m.
This will mark the second consecutive year that the Quakers will open the tournament against Cornell. Penn started last season's meeting by taking the doubles point before losing four matches in singles. The Red and Blue went on to beat the Big Red, 4-3, during the Ivy League season on the road.
The Quakers are led in singles this season by
Kyle Mautner and
Kevin Zhu. Mautner's only loss this spring came to No. 33 Johanness Schretter of Baylor. All five of Mautner's wins have come in straight sets.
Zhu remains undefeated with a 6-0 record. The freshman's first two wins came in three sets, but he has since won each of his last four via sweep.
Not only has Zhu has impressed in singles, he also leads the Quakers in doubles with Graziani. The freshman duo lost their first match of the spring last week, 7-5, in a close match against VCU. The duo still hold a 3-1 record this spring.
The ECAC Tournament will mark Penn's final home matches until March 10 when it takes on Clemson and Drexel for a Sunday double-header. The Quakers head to Virginia next week to play Old Dominion and William & Mary before taking their spring break trip to North Carolina where they will play four matches over four days.
