Sophomore Ben Swanson is holding down the number one singles spot for Penn Charter this spring. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

In last Wednesday's non-league tennis match alongside School House Lane, the solo artists from visiting Germantown Friends gave successful performances, but the boys of host Penn Charter proved they play well with others, winning all of the doubles bouts to claim a 4-3 victory.

If the match had taken place a few hundred yards down the street on the GFS courts, it would've followed the three singles, two doubles format employed by the Friends Schools League. When an Inter-Ac team such as Penn Charter hosts, the seven-bout standard used in that league and by the public schools in the PIAA applies, adding a third and fourth doubles flight into the mix.

With their eight doubles players fueling Wednesday's win, the Quakers improved to 3-2 overall. Like most racquet squads, PC has seen its schedule disrupted by wet weather, and unfortunately the only Inter-Ac opponent Charter has seen is powerful Haverford School, which has logged a pair of 6-1 wins against the Quakers.

For GFS, the close loss at Penn Charter was the first setback in the team's four outings this season. A day earlier, the Tigers raised their Friends Schools League record to 2-0 with their second 5-0 victory, this one over Shipley School.

GFS freshman number two Danny Loder sets his sights on the ball for a forehand stroke. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

The next day, Germantown's Danny Loder won a battle between freshmen at second singles, defeating Charter's Charles Jordan-Weinstein, 6-1, 6-0. One rung down the ladder at number three, a pair of 6-1 sets carried Tigers junior Zak Schneider past PC sophomore Rohan Bhambhani.

The home team was having better luck in pairs play. In the top flight, junior Justin Ko teamed up with eighth-grade prodigy Joshua John for a 6-1, 6-3 outcome over GFS juniors Tim Peterson and Gabe Goldberg. Goldberg usually plays in another double flight, but on Wednesday Peterson's regular partner at number one, senior Jeremy Berman, was away on a college visit.

The visitors' usual second doubles duo was intact, but sophomores Gray Palmer and Michael Harrity succumbed in two 6-3 sets to Charter sophomore Tom Bradbeer and junior Alex Shipon.

On the singles courts, the number one match went on for quite awhile. There were many long points, but in the end most of them were won by Germantown Friends freshman Henry Ruger, who topped Quakers 10th-grader Ben Swanson, 6-0, 6-1.

However, the rest of Charters' doubles players were taking care of business to swing the match in their team's favor. In the third flight, two 6-1 sets were produced by senior Tyler Schwartz and junior Jake Cutler in their successful outing against GFS juniors Aaron Loder and August Dobrin. At number four, it was PC junior Josh Toll and senior Scott Hanson (a new addition to the varsity squad) over visiting sophomores James Nalle and Simon L'Tainen, 6-3, 6-3.