Sept. 18, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's tennis team kicked off the 2009 fall season with a total of nine victories in day one of the Farnsworth/Princeton Invitational on Friday. Two doubles pairings and four players in singles advanced in their flights. Action will continue tomorrow at the Lenz Tennis Center.
In doubles action, the Nittany Lions earned a total of five victories. In Flight "A", sophomore Jason Lee (Melbourne, Australia) and junior Eddie Bourchier (Hobart, Australia) moved to the third round as they picked up two victories. In the first round, Lee and Bourchier knocked-off Pennsylvania's Eugen Brazdil and Mark Millbrandt, 8-5. From there, they advanced to the second round and defeated Gery and Hang Schneideman of Ciolumbia, 8-2. Lee and Bourchier will play Cornell's Mirza Klis and Johnathan Jaklitsch tomorrow.
Also in the Flight "A" doubles bracket, freshmen C.J. Griffin (Portland, Mich.) and Warren Hardie (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) earned their first career doubles victory as they downed Matjia Pecotic and Matt Spindler of Princeton, 8-4. The Nittany Lion pairing lost however in the second round to Jeremy Feldman and Andy Gauthier of Cornell, 8-4.
In Flight "B" doubles, senior Guillaume St-Maurice (Saint-Eustache, Quebec) and sophomore Taylor Cohen (Philadelphia, Pa.) advanced to the third round with two victories. The pairing defeated Columbia's Andreas Danielsson and Rafael Rodrigues followed by an 8-2 win over Jeff Karsh and Michael Lin of Princeton. St-Maurice and Cohen will face Derek Wallensteen and Mike Lampa of St. John's tomorrow. Also in Flight "B", freshmen Bryan Welnetz (Laredo, Texas) and Guanhua Chen (DaLian, China) were defeated by Rajeev Deb Sen/Kevin Kung of Columbia, 8-5.
The Nittany Lions tallied a total of four wins in singles action. In Flight "A", senior Ryan Gormley (Las Vegas, Nev.) defeated Matja Pecotic of Princeton, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, and will face Cornell's Jonathan Jaklitsch tomorrow. Additionally in Flight "A", Lee lost a tough match to Mihai Nichifor of Columbia, 6-4, 7-5.
Flight "B" was the strong bracket for the Nittany Lions as Cohen, Hardie, and Welnetz all earned victories. Cohen defeated Columbia's Ekin Sezgen, 7-5, 6-2, Welnetz downed Marc Powers of Yale, 6-3, 7-5, and Hardie knocked-off Asaf Honig of St. John's, 6-4, 6-1. Cohen is set to play John Huang tomorrow, while Welnetz will play Pennsylvania's Phil Law and Hardie will square-off with Gauthier.
Griffin and St-Maurice each faced tough losses in Flight "C" and Chen had a tough setback in Flight "D." The three, along with Lee will all appear in the consolation bracket tomorrow. Following competition at Princeton, Penn State will be off for a month before heading to Norfolk, Va. for the ITA Regional Championships on Oct. 23. The Big Ten Singles Tournament is slated for Oct. 29-Nov. 2 in East Lansing, Mich.
Doubles
Flight "A"
Round 1) Jason Lee/Eddie Bourchier (Penn State) def. Eugen Brazdil/Mark Millbrandt (U Penn), 8-5
Round 1) C.J. Griffin/Warren Hardie (Penn State) def. Matjia Pecotic/Matt Spindler (Princeton), 8-4
Round 2) Jason Lee/Eddie Bourchier (Penn State) def. Nathaniel Gery/Hang Schneideman (Columbia), 8-2
Round 2) Jeremy Feldman/Andy Gauthier (Cornell) def. C.J. Griffin/Warren Hardie (Penn State), 8-5
Flight "B"
Round 1) Rajeev Deb Sen/Kevin Kung (Columbia) def. Guanhua Chen/Bryan Welnetz (Penn State), 8-5
Round 1) Guillaume St-Maurice/Taylor Cohen (Penn State) def. Andreas Danielsson/Rafael Rodrigues (Binghamton), 8-3
Round 2) Guillaume St-Maurice/Taylor Cohen (Penn State) def. Jeff Karsh/Michael Lin (Princeton), 8-2
Singles
Flight "A"
Round 1) Mihai Nichifor (Columbia) def. Jason Lee (Penn State), 6-4, 7-5
Round 1) Ryan Gormley (Penn State) def. Matja Pecotic (Princeton), 6-4, 3-6, 6-2
Flight "B"
Round 1) Taylor Cohen (Penn State) def. Ekin Sezgen (Coliumbia), 7-5, 6-2
Round 1) Bryan Welnetz (Penn State) def. Marc Powers (Yale), 6-3, 7-5
Round 1) Warren Hardie (Penn State) def. Asaf Honig (St. John's), 6-4, 6-1
Flight "C"
Round 1) Rajeev Deb Sen (Columbia) def. C.J. Griffin (Penn State), 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-5
Round 2) Evan Bernstein (Cornell) def. Guillaume St-Maurice (Penn State), 6-3, 6-3
Flight "D"
Round 1) Yohei Shoji (Princeton) def. Guanhua Chen (Penn State), 6-2, 6-4