May 10, 2008
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Behind stellar doubles play, the 39th-ranked Nittany Lion men's tennis team (16-11, 6-4 Big Ten) marched to a 4-0 sweep of 27th-ranked VCU (19-8, 5-0 CAA) in the first round of the NCAA Championship on Saturday at Snyder Tennis Center. Penn State moves on to face host and top-ranked Virginia on Sunday at 11 a.m.
The win marked the program's first victory in the modern-day 64-team NCAA Championship format, which began in 1999. Prior to the victory over VCU on Saturday, Penn State's only NCAA Championship victory came back in 1998 against Columbia (4-1) in an NCAA Regional match.
"This was a very exciting win for the program, and the guys should be extremely proud of today's result," said head coach Todd Doebler. "We gained a lot of momentum by playing great doubles. Then we got an even bigger boost when our seniors - Michael James and James Dwyer - got off the court quickly with convincing victories. All in all, it was a great match for us to beat a very good VCU team. We are now looking forward to playing the No. 1-ranked Virginia Cavaliers in the second round."
Penn State kicked off the match with a pair of dominating victories at positions one and three in doubles play. The Lions then cruised to a 3-0 lead after a pair of victories from seniors Michael James (Clifton, Va.) and James Dwyer (Peachtree City, Ga.). Junior Adam Slagter (Austin, Texas) then clinched a spot in the round of 32 for the Nittany Lions with a straight-sets victory at the No. 2 spot in the singles lineup.
The Nittany Lions came out firing in doubles action. At No. 1, James and junior Brendan Lynch (North Potomac, Md.), who are ranked 32nd in the nation, took a 4-2 lead on Virginia Commonwealth's Sebastian Ripoll and Emil Lindgren after securing a service break in the sixth game of the pro-set. That proved to be all the Lion duo needed, as they served out an 8-4 victory to give the Lions the early edge in the chase for the doubles point. James and Lynch improved to 15-4 with the victory. The win also marked the fourth victory for James and Lynch over a ranked team this season.
Penn State clinched the doubles marker with a victory at the No. 3 spot. Slagter and sophomore Guillaume St-Maurice (Saint-Esutache, Quebec) ousted VCU's team of Martin Schulhauser and Stepan Siska by a score of 8-6. Slagter and St-Maurice scored a pair of early breaks to take a 5-2 lead after seven games. Nevertheless, VCU came right back with a service break in the very next game to set the score at 5-3. Despite a late rally from VCU, which allowed them to close to within 7-6, Slagter served the Lions to a 1-0 lead in the match.
In the No. 2 doubles bout, Dwyer freshman Eddie Bourchier (Hobart, Australia) held a 5-2 lead over the Ram team of Thibaut Charron and Bobo Delemark when the point was clinched for Penn State.
With Penn State leading 1-0, the match turned to singles action. Penn State carried the doubles momentum right into singles play. Dwyer handed the Nittany Lions a 2-0 lead in the match with a convincing straight sets victory at the No. 4 spot against Lindgren. Dwyer scored a break in the first game of the match and never looked back. He scored a break in the ninth game of the first to notch the set, 6-3. Dwyer came out on fire in the second, jumping out to a quick 3-1 lead on his way to a 6-1 victory. He has now won seven of his last 11 dual outings.
James then steamrolled his way to a commanding straight sets victory over Schulhauser at the No. 1 spot, putting the Nittany Lions up by a convincing 3-0 margin. The Lion senior, who is ranked 60th in the ITA singles poll, put together a flawless first set. James notched the set by a score of 6-0 behind superb groundstrokes. He finished off the match with a 6-2 victory in the second. The two-time All-Big Ten standout improved to 28-13 on the year.
The No. 2 match proved to be a clincher for the Nittany Lions. Slagter fell behind 2-0 in the first set against Charron. However, the Nittany Lion southpaw then rattled off six of the final seven games of the first set to take a one-set edge against Charron. Slagter notched a break in the fifth game of the second set to take a 3-2 advantage. From there, he held his service games on his way to a 6-4 victory in the second set, clinching the Penn State victory. Slagter has now won seven of his last 10 dual matches, and is 11-7 overall this spring.
With the match decided, the remaining three singles bouts on court were not finished. Lynch led Virginia Commonwealth's Damien Lacombe at No. 3 by a one-set margin when the match was halted. Lynch took the first, 6-4, but Lacombe held a 5-2 lead in the second when Slagter clinched the victory.
Bourchier trailed VCU's Georges Alexandre Israel by a score of 6-3, 5-1 at the time of the clinching point. St-Maurice had just taken the No. 6 bout to a third set when the overall match was decided. St-Maurice rallied from one set down (6-3) against Ripoll, and knotted the match at one set apiece (6-3). Ripoll won the first game of the third.
The 4-0 win also marked Penn State's eighth victory over a ranked opponent this season. Virginia advanced into the second round with a 4-0 sweep of Fairleigh Dickinson. The Cavaliers come into the match against Penn State 29-0 overall. Virginia defeated Penn State by a score of 4-0 on Feb. 15 at the ITA National Indoor Championships. Live scoring will be available on Virginiasports.com or through the link on GoPSUsports.com.
Final Score: #39 Penn State 4, #27 VCU 0
Doubles:
1. #32 Michael James/Brendan Lynch (PSU) def. #51 Sebastian Ripoll/Emil Lindgren (VCU), 8-4
2. James Dwyer/Eddie Bourchier (PSU) led Thibaut Charron/Bobo Delemark (VCU), 5-2, Unfinished
3. Adam Slagter/Guillaume St-Maurice (PSU) def. Martin Schulhauser/Stepan Siska (VCU), 8-6
Order of finish: 1, 3
Singles:
1. #60 Michael James (PSU) def. Martin Schulhauser (VCU), 6-0, 6-2
2. Adam Slagter (PSU) def. Thibaut Charron (VCU), 6-3, 6-4
3. Brendan Lynch (PSU) led Damien Lacombe (VCU), 6-4, 2-5, Unfinished
4. James Dwyer (PSU) def. Emil Lindgren (VCU), 6-3, 6-1
5. Georges Alexandre Israel (VCU) led Eddie Bourchier (PSU), 6-3, 5-1, Unfinished
6. Sebastian Ripoll (VCU) led Guillaume St-Maurice (PSU), 6-3, 3-6, 1-0, Unfinished
Order of finish: 4, 1, 2