Senior Andrew Bruhn, shown in the Georgetown Classic this fall, is one of three Hoyas in contention for the No. 1 singles spot this weekend.
After a dominant 7-0 win at Division III Mary Washington, Georgetown’s men’s tennis team will have little time to rest before hitting the road on Wednesday to take on UPenn in Philadelphia.
Georgetown (4-1) has had an encouraging start to its 2012 campaign, with triumphs over Longwood and Norfolk State in the VCU 4+1 before the Hoyas’ 4-1 rout of Richmond on Jan. 28 and this weekend’s victory over Mary Washington.
Head Coach Gordie Ernst made clear that the Hoyas’opponents so far have prepared them well for the upcoming challenge against Penn.
Mary Washington is consistently a “top-20 D-III team,” Ernst noted. “They’re scrappy, they’re hungry. The matches were pretty tight.”
Richmond, meanwhile, has been making Georgetown look good since the two faced off; the Spiders have reeled off four straight wins since their meeting with the Hoyas.
Still, Georgetown will certainly be putting its mettle to the test when it faces off against a tough UPennsquad.
“Penn is a team that has some talent,” Ernst said. “They’ve got guys that are higher ranked than who we’ve got in the junior tennis [rankings].”
Because of that, UPenn represents a chance for the determined Hoyas to prove themselves.
“If we want to be a good team, we’ve got to beat good teams,” said Ernst.
Ernst still hasn’t set the singles seed for the Blue and Gray. The team’s top three players — senior Andrew Bruhn, junior Charlie Caris and freshman Shane Korber — are fairly “interchangeable,” Ernst said.
Whatever the order may be, Ernst is looking for the first two, both upperclassmen, to help set the tone.
The juniors and seniors are needed “to step up in matches like these,” he said.
Freshman John Brosens, who cruised to a 6-2, 6-0 win in the number six singles spot against Mary Washington, made a big impression on Ernst ahead of the team’s trip to UPenn.
“He played like he was on a mission, with incredible intensity and focus,” said Ernst. “It was the best tennis I’ve seen him play since he stepped foot on campus at Georgetown. No first-match jitters or anything.”
Relying on their upperclassmen and the surging Brosens may not be enough against the Quakers, but the Hoyas are hoping to leave it all out on the courts.
“[It will be] a battle,” Ernst said. “I think it’s [going to] be a hell of a match.”
The drama is set to unfold starting at 2 p.m.
