April 19, 2009
2009 Big Ten Men's Tennis Tournament Bracket
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. - The Penn State men's tennis team (13-12, 4-6) lost a tough 5-2 match to #44 Northwestern (18-7, 6-4) Sunday in the regular season finale for both teams. Seniors Brendan Lynch (North Potomac, Md.) and Adam Slagter (Austin, Texas) each earned singles win in their final match at Sarni Tennis Center. With his 78th career victory, Lynch moves into seventh place on the all-time singles wins list, passing Jamie Gresh.
The Nittany Lions earn the No. 7 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and will face No. 10 seed Purdue on Thursday at 3 p.m. in Ann Arbor. The winner of the Penn State-Purdue match will take on No. 2 seed Illinois on Friday at 2 p.m.
The Wildcats jumped on the Nittany Lions in doubles play as they claimed the point by winning all three pairs matches. Lynch teamed with Guillaume St-Maurice (Saint-Eustache, Quebec, Canada) in third pairs, but dropped an 8-2 match to Alexander Thams and Andrew McCarthy. Marc Dwyer and Alex Sanborn secured the doubles point for Northwestern with an 8-3 victory over Slagter and Jason Lee (Melbourne, Australia) in first doubles. In second doubles, Eddie Bourchier (Hobart, Australia) and Ryan Gormley (Las Vegas, Nev.) dropped a 7-6 (4) decision to Joshua Graves and Tobias Reitz.
Lynch celebrated Senior Day and tied the match at 1-1 by making quick work of No. 121 Dwyer in first singles play (6-3, 6-1). Trailing 3-2 in the opening set, Lynch reeled for four straight points to earn the first-set win, 6-3. He continued his strong play in the second set with a dominating 6-1 performance.
The Wildcats regained the lead with a win in sixth singles as Eric Spector defeated Gormley in straight sets (6-4, 6-4). However, Penn State immediately bounced back to tie the match at 2-2 when Slagter earned a hard-fought win in three sets over Thams in second singles. Slagter struggled early as he dropped the first set 6-3, but was outstanding in the second frame and posted a dominating 6-1 decision. Slagter scored the first three points in the deciding set and held on for a 6-4 win in the third set.
Lee dropped his first set, 6-2, to Reitz in third singles, but came back to notch a 6-1 win in the second set. Unfortunately, Lee's comeback was halted when Reitz posted a 6-3 win in the final set and move Northwestern within a point of clinching the match. The Wildcats clinched the match in fourth singles play as Graves posted a 6-3, 7-5 win over Bourchier.
With the final point of the match up for grabs, St-Maurice fell behind early as he dropped the first three games in his fifth singles match to Sanborn, but bounced back to earn a 7-5 win in the first set. However, Sanborn returned the favor in the second set as he handed St-Maurice a 7-5 loss. St-Maurice came out strong in the final set, winning the first three games before Sanborn rallied to win five of the next six games to take a 5-4 lead. St-Maurice forced the match into a tiebreaker, but Sanborn earned the win 7-6 (4).
#44 Northwestern 5, Penn State 2
Doubles
1. Marc Dwyer/Alex Sanborn (NU) def. Adam Slagter/Jason Lee (PSU), 8-3
2. Joshua Graves/Tobias Reitz (NU) def. Eddie Bourchier/Ryan Gormley (PSU), 7-6 (3)
3. Alexander Thams/Andrew McCarthy (NU) def. Brendan Lynch/Guillaume St-Maurice (PSU), 8-2
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles
1. Brendan Lynch (PSU) def. #121 Marc Dwyer (NU), 6-3, 6-1
2. Adam Slagter (PSU) def. Alexander Thams (NU), 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
3. Tobias Reitz (NU) def. Jason Lee (PSU), 6-2, 1-6, 6-3
4. Joshua Graves (NU) def. Eddie Bourchier (PSU), 6-3, 7-5
5. Alex Sanborn (NU) def. Guillaume St-Maurice (PSU), 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (4)
6. Eric Spector (NU) def. Ryan Gormley (PSU), 6-4, 6-4
Order of finish: 1, 6, 2, 3, 4, 5