| Michael James knocked off No. 39 Arvid Puranen on Sunday in the Nittany Lions' 4-3 loss to Virginia Tech. |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; March 4, 2007 ?C For the third straight year, the Penn State men??s tennis team and Virginia Tech battled to a tight 4-3 decision. However, for the first time in three seasons the 44th-ranked Nittany Lions came up on the short end of the results on Sunday at the Penn State Indoor Tennis Center.
Penn State (8-2, 1-1 Big Ten) dropped the crucial doubles point when the Hokies swept the Nittany Lions. From there the two teams split the singles action, handing Virginia Tech the 4-3 victory.
??Virginia Tech deserves a lot of credit with how hard they competed,?? said head coach Todd Doebler. ??They are definitely better than their current national ranking. We had some opportunities in doubles and at certain points in singles, but we were unable to capitalize. Michael [James] had a great win today over a very tough, consistent college player. Hopefully the win will help his confidence in future matches against ranked players.??
At the No. 1 doubles spot, junior Michael James (Clifton, Va.) and sophomore Adam Slagter (Austin, Texas), who are ranked 19th in the latest ITA National Doubles Poll, fell to the 26th-ranked Virginia Tech duo of Nicolas Delgado and Pedro Graber (9-8 (4)). James and Slagter led 3-0 after grabbing a quick break. However, the Hokie team fought back to square the match at four. Delgado and Graber sent the match into a tiebreak. In the breaker, the Nittany Lions never led as the Hokie duo controlled the pace to take the match, 9-8 (4). Slagter and James fall to 13-3 on the year.
Junior James Dwyer (Peachtree City, Ga.) and freshman Guillaume St-Maurice (Saint-Eustache, Quebec) dropped the No. 3 match to the Hokie duo of Brandon Corace and Arvid Puranen. Dwyer and St-Maurice got down early and could never recover (8-3). Corace and Puranen??s 8-4 victory sealed the doubles point for the Hokies.
Seniors Ryan Berger (Grand Rapids, Mich.) and Bradley Hunter (Atlanta, Ga.) dropped the No. 2 doubles match to Virginia Tech??s Alexei Sergeev and Albert Larregola. The Nittany Lion seniors could not get the momentum needed to grab the victory for Penn State. Despite sending the match to a tiebreaker, Sergeev and Larregola scored big points when they needed to (8-7 (5)).
With Penn State trailing 1-0, the match moved to singles play. Freshman Ryan Gormley (Las Vegas, Nev.) fell to Virginia Tech??s Yoann Re in straight sets at the No. 4 spot. Re controlled much of the first set on his way to a 6-3 edge. In the second, Gormley fought his way to a 4-3 lead, but the Hokie freshman rallied to take the next three games in the set, giving the Hokies a 2-0 match lead (6-3, 6-4). Gormley falls to 11-4 on the season.
At the No. 1 spot, James was pitted against Puranen, who is ranked 39th in the current ITA National Singles Poll. Both players came out of the gate with fire in the first set. James got up a break on hard-hitting Puranen halfway through the first. Nonetheless, Puranen fought back to even the match at four. James rallied with a second break in the initial set, which proved to be all that he needed to take the set. Following the 6-4 win in the first, James trailed Puranen 3-1 in the second. Behind his big serve, James took the next three games to take a 4-3 lead. James served out the set to take his first win of the season against a nationally-ranked opponent. The Nittany Lion junior improves to 18-4 overall and 7-2 in duals this season. James?? notable win trimmed the Hokie lead to 2-1.
Slagter dropped the No. 3 match to Larregola in straight sets. After falling in the first set by a 6-3 margin, Slagter fought back in the second. The sophomore southpaw sent the second into a tiebreak, but Larregola prevailed by a score of 8-6 in the breaker, handing Virginia Tech a 3-1 lead in the match.
Berger dropped a tough three-set match at the No. 2 spot. After picking up the win in the first-set tiebreaker (7-6 (7-4)) against Delgado, Berger found himself in a 4-1 hole in the second. The Nittany Lion senior won the next three games to knot the second set at four. But Delgado weathered the Berger rally and picked up the second. In the decisive set, Berger once again trailed. Nonetheless, he knotted the match at five after trailing Delgado 5-2. In a mirror image of the second set, Delgado halted the rally to take the match (6-7 (4), 7-5, 7-5). The Delgado win gave Virginia Tech the match. Berger drops to 14-6 on the year.
Dwyer and St-Maurice both picked up points for Penn State in three-set tiebreakers at the No. 5 and 6 spots, respectively. Both Nittany Lions trailed by a set. Dwyer fell behind Graber, while St-Maurice trailed Corace. In Dwyer??s third-set tiebreaker, he outlasted Virginia Tech??s Graber by a score of 17-15. St-Maurice was an 11-9 winner in the third set of the No. 6 match. Dwyer improves to 12-5 on the year, while St-Maurice is an impressive 17-4 in his rookie season.
Virginia Tech moves to 9-3 on the season with the win on Sunday.
Penn State will travel to Ann Arbor on Saturday, March 10 for a match against No. 22 Michigan. The first serve is set for 6 p.m. The Nittany Lions will return home on March 21 against Duquesne at 3 p.m. Admission is free.
Final Score: Virginia Tech 4, Penn State 3
Doubles
1. #26 Nicolas Delgado/Pedro Graber (VT) def. #19 Adam Slagter/Michael James (PSU), 9-8 (4)
2. Alexei Sergeev/Albert Larregola (VT) def. Ryan Berger/Bradley Hunter, 8-7 (5)
3. Brandon Corace/Arvid Puranen (VT) def. James Dwyer/Guillaume St-Maurice (PSU), 8-3
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles
1. Michael James (PSU) def. #39 Arvid Puranen (VT), 6-4, 6-4
2. Nicolas Delgado (VT) def. Ryan Berger (PSU), 6-7 (4), 7-5, 7-5
3. Albert Larregola (VT) def. Adam Slagter (PSU), 6-3, 7-6 (6)
4. Yoann Re (VT) def. Ryan Gormley (PSU), 6-3, 6-4
5. James Dwyer (PSU) def. Pedro Graber (VT), 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (17-15)
6. Guillaume St-Maurice (PSU) def. Brandon Corace (VT), 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (11-9)
Order of finish: 4, 1, 3, 2, 6, 5