Oct. 15, 2008
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's tennis team will move on with their fall season as they head to Yale this weekend to compete in the 2008 ITA Northeast Regionals Oct. 16-21. Penn State will send eight players, with six competing in singles and three pairs featured in doubles.
The Nittany Lions are looking to repeat the success from last year's event in Princeton. Former First Team All-Big Ten standout Michael James captured first place in the singles draw. Senior Brendan Lynch (North Potomac, Md.) and junior Ryan Gormley (Las Vegas, Nev.) made it to the doubles final last year and captured second place.
Lynch, who was ranked 12th in the ITA Northeast Region last year, garnered the No. 2 seed in the 128-player singles draw. In his last outing, Lynch lost a pair of difficult matches at the All-American Championships in Tulsa, Okla. The senior was the only Nittany Lion represented at the event, which featured the top collegiate tennis players in the nation. Lynch will face the winner of Hartford's Ricky Dove and the winning qualifier that Dove will face.
Earning the No. 7 seed in the singles draw will be sophomore Eddie Bourchier (Hobart, Australia). Bourchier holds a 2-2 record this fall, after recently competing at the Georgia Tech Invitational. The sophomore will take on the winner of the winning qualifier and UMBC's Nick Savage-Pollock.
Gormley is also seeded in the draw. The promising junior is 3-3 this season in singles, including two-straight victories that he earned at the Georgia Tech Invitational two weeks ago. Gormley opened up the fall with an impressive victory over Alabama's Ricky Doverspike, 6-4, 7-6 (5). He will face the winner of Princeton's Ryan Kim and UMBC's Fredi Voorman.
Also earning a seed in the singles draw is junior Guillaume St-Maurice (Saint-Eustache, Quebec). St-Maurice is 4-3 this fall and had an excellent showing at the Georgia Tech Invitational. He went 3-1 at the event, including an upset win over Vanderbilt's Scott Lieberman, 6-1, 7-6 (9). He will play the winner of Duquesne's Alex Mast and Sergey Igel of St. Peter's.
Freshman Jason Lee (Melbourne, Australia) is the fifth player for the Nittany Lions in the main draw. The freshman is 0-3 this fall, but has come up just short to some quality opponents. He will take on the winner of George Washington's Eric Hannah and Jeremy McClelland of Duquesne. Sophomore Jamie Cox (Acworth, Ga.) will begin play on Thursday in the qualifying round. Cox is 2-1 this fall, with his two victories came at the PSU Fall Classic in September. The sophomore will face Ilan Shvartz of Stony Brook.
In doubles action, the Nittany Lions will feature three pairings. Leading the way for Penn State will be the No. 5 seed pairing of Bourchier and Lee in the draw of 64. The two will pair up for the first time this fall. Lee has teamed up with Gormley three times, going 2-1. Bourchier is 0-3 combined in doubles, pairing up with Lynch and Cox. Bourchier and Lee will take on the winner of Michael Hayes and David Mangham of Harvard and Jon Pearlman and Charlie Posner of Brown.
Also earning a seed in doubles is Lynch and sophomore Jake Toole (Sharon, Mass.). The pair will be teaming up for the first time this fall as well. Toole is 3-0 in doubles action, as he has teamed up with Cox and freshman Chris Hasyn (Lansdale, Pa.). Lynch is 1-2 this fall, teaming up with Bourchier and St-Maurice. The two will play the winner of the doubles match that consists of St. Peter's Tony Wilkey and Chris Frakes and Monmouth's Benjamin Evenden and David Sherwood.
Featuring the Lions' final pairing is Hasyn and Gormley. The pair begins play Thursday in the qualifying rounds. Gormley is 3-2 in doubles this fall with two victories coming with Lee and one with St-Maurice. Hasyn is 1-1 with his victory coming with Toole. The pairing will face off with Adam Schwartz and Alex Vasin of Pennsylvania.
Beginning Thursday, action will kick off with the first and second round of singles qualifying. On Friday, the first round of the main draw of singles will kick off, followed by the first round of doubles action. The second round of singles and doubles will take place on Saturday, followed by the third and fourth rounds of singles and the third round of doubles on Sunday. The quarterfinals for singles will begin on Monday, along with the quarterfinals and semifinals for doubles. Tuesday will conclude action with singles semifinals, followed by singles and doubles finals.
Following the ITA Northeast Regionals, Penn State will head to Madison, Wis. for the Big Ten Singles Indoor Tournament Oct. 30 - Nov. 3. The ITA Indoors Singles and Doubles Tournament is slated for Nov. 6-9.