Feb. 1, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - After a tough 4-3 loss to Oklahoma State on Saturday, the Penn State men's tennis team fell to the 33rd-ranked Duke Blue Devils on Saturday. With the loss, Penn State drops to 2-3 on the season, with all three losses coming to ranked opponents.
The Nittany Lions got off to a slow start by losing in the doubles point, and from there could never get any momentum back. Penn State lost all three singles matches, and the other three of them were unfinished.
In the doubles segment of the match, senior Adam Slagter (Austin, Texas) and freshman Jason Lee (Melbourne, Australia) faced Duke's 38th-ranked pairing of Kiril Dimitrov and Alain Michel. Lee and Slagter had a tough time with the Devils' tandem, as they were downed, 8-4.
In the No. 2 doubles matchup, sophomore Eddie Bourchier (Hobart, Australia) and sophomore Ryan Gormley (Las Vegas, Nev.) took on Duke's Reid Carleton and Dylan Arnould. Penn State's tandem struggled as well, losing to the Blue Devils, 8-3. With the win by Carleton and Arnould, Duke earned the doubles point and had the early 1-0 lead. The third doubles matchup featuring senior Brendan Lynch (North Potomac, Md.) and junior Guillaume St-Maurice (Saint-Eustache, Quebec) ended unfinished, with the Lions' tandem leading 7-6 on Duke's Torsten Wietoska and David Holland.
The match then turned to singles action, where Lynch took on the 45th-ranked Dimitrov in the No.2 singles matchup. In the first set, Dimitrov jumped out to an early 3-1 lead and never looked back, taking the set, 6-2. Dimitrov's momentum continued in the second set, defeating Lynch, 6-2, and earning a point for the Blue Devils.
With Duke leading 2-0, Lee faced off with the Devils' Jared Pinsky. In the first set, Pinsky never trailed and won the set, 6-3. In the second set, Lee jumped out to an early lead, 3-2, but then trailed 4-3. After the score got knotted back up at five, Pinsky won the final two games to earn the victory over Lee and a point for Duke.
With Duke leading 3-0, the match was decided in the No. 1 bout featuring Slagter and No. 25 Carleton. Slagter gave Carleton trouble throughout the entire match, as it went back and forth the entire time. The first set eventually went to tiebreaker, where Carleton took the extra frame, 7-4. From there, Carleton carried his momentum and won the second set, 6-3, clinching the match for Duke. The final three matches were unfinished due to the match already being clinched by Duke.
The Nittany Lions will return to the Penn State Indoor Tennis Center next weekend as they'll take on No. 30 Virginia Tech on Saturday, Feb. 7 in a noon matchup. On Feb. 8, Penn State will host a double header, starting with Cornell at 10 a.m. and Lehigh at 3 p.m.
#33 Duke 4 def. #44 Penn State 0
Doubles
1. Kiril Dimitrov/Alain Michel def. Adam Slagter/Jason Lee (Penn State), 8-4
2. Reid Carleton/Dylan Arnould def. Eddie Bourchier/Ryan Gormley (Penn State), 8-3
3. Brendan Lynch/Guillaume St-Maurice led Torsten Wietoska/David Holland, 7-6 (unfinished)
Order of finish: 1, 2
Singles
1. #25 Reid Carleton (Duke) def. Adam Slagter (PSU), 7-6 (7-4), 6-3
2. #45 Kiril Dimitrov (Duke) def. Brendan Lynch (PSU), 6-2, 6-1
3. Eddie Bourcheir (PSU) led Dylan Arnould (Duke), 7-6 (8-6), 3-3 (unfinished)
4. Jared Pinsky (Duke) def. Jason Lee (PSU), 6-3, 7-5
5. Ryan Gormley (PSU) led. Torsten Wietoska (Duke), 2-3 (unfinished)
6. Guillaume St-Maurice (PSU) led. David Holland (Duke), 1-2 (unfinished)
Order of finish: 2, 4, 1