Oct. 22, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's tennis team kicked-off its competition in the ITA Regional Championships at Old Dominion on Thursday. The Nittany Lions earned a total of three wins in singles competition and four wins in doubles competition.
In the singles draw, sophomore Taylor Cohen (Philadelphia, Pa.) picked up a victory in the round of 128 over Morgan State's Kevon Charles, 6-1, 6-1. Senior Guillaume St-Maurice (Saint-Eustache, Quebec) also picked up a victory as he defeated Norfolk State's Ben Marks in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2. Rounding out the winners was freshman Bryan Welnetz (Laredo, Texas) who defeated Maryland's Mathia Sarrazin, 7-5, 7-5. All three players will join senior Ryan Gormley (Las Vegas, Nev.), sophomore Jason Lee (Melbourne, Australia), junior Eddie Bourchier (Hobart, Australia) and freshman Warren Hardie (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) in the round of 64.
Also in singles competition, freshman C.J. Griffin (Portland, Mich.) faced a tough setback to Old Dominion's Kris Muzalewski in three sets, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. Also, freshman Guanhua Chen (DaLian, China) had a difficult loss to Georgetown's Charlie Caris in three sets, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (5).
In doubles action, St-Maurice and Welnetz advanced to the round of 32 with an 8-6 victory over Liberty's Giancarlo Lemmi and Siim Tuss. Additionally, Chen and Cohen paired up and earned an 8-4 win over Saint Joseph's Matt Prusack and Mike Stauble to advance to the round of 32.
In the round of 32 of doubles, Bourchier and Lee, who had a first round bye, picked up a nice 8-2 victory over Old Dominion's Tommi Nissinen and Greg Vladimirsky to advance to the round of 16. Gormley and Hardie picked up an 8-5 victory over William & Mary's Richard Wardell and Jamie Whiteford to advance as well.
St-Maurice-Welnetz and Chen-Cohen failed to advance to the round of 16 as they faced difficult setbacks in their matches.
Two rounds of singles action will take place on Friday along with one round of doubles action.
Up next for the Nittany Lions is the Big Ten Singles Tournament, which is slated for Oct. 29-Nov. 2 in East Lansing, Mich. Penn State will begin dual match play on Jan. 24 with a doubleheader matchup at home with Princeton and Lehigh.
Singles
Round of 128
Taylor Cohen (Penn State) def. Kevon Charles (Morgan State), 6-1, 6-1
Kris Muzalewski (Old Dominion) def. C.J. Griffin (Penn State), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
Charlie Caris (Georgetown) def. Guanhua Chen (Penn State), 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (5)
Bryan Welnetz (Penn State) def. Mathias Sarrazin (Maryland), 7-5, 7-5
Guillaume St-Maurice (Penn State) def. Ben Marks (Norfolk State), 6-1, 6-2
Doubles
Round of 64
Guillaume St-Maurice/Bryan Welnetz (Penn State) def. Giancarlo Lemmi/Siim Tuus (Liberty), 8-6
Guanhua Chen/Taylor Cohen (Penn State) def. Matt Prusack/Mike Stauble (St. Joseph's), 8-4
Round of 32
Matt King/Mike Smith (James Madison) def. Guillaume St-Maurice/Bryan Welnetz (Penn State), 8-5
Drew Courtney/Lee Singer (Virginia) def. Guanhua Chen/Taylor Cohen (Penn State), 8-5
Eddie Bourchier/Jason Lee (Penn State) def. Tommi Nissinen/Greg Vladimirsky (Old Dominion), 8-2
Ryan Gormley/Warren Hardie (Penn State) def. Richard Wardell/Jamie Whiteford (William & Mary), 8-5