Feb. 13, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's tennis team (5-1, 0-0) picked up a 6-1 victory over the Buffalo Bulls on Saturday at the Penn State Indoor Tennis Center. The Nittany Lions will face St. Bonaventure and Bucknell tomorrow on the University Park campus.
Penn State came out and racked up the doubles point to gain an early 1-0 advantage. From there, the Lions went on to win five of the six singles bouts to secure a 6-1 victory.
The Nittany Lions got an early edge in doubles competition on court No. 3 when senior Guillaume St-Maurice (Saint-Eustache, Quebec) and freshman C.J. Griffin (Portland, Mich.) took on Buffalo's Mitch Zenaty and Alex Kalinin. St-Maurice and Griffin stared off with a 2-0 lead. Then, leading 5-4, the Lion tandem won the next three games to capture an 8-4 victory.
In the No. 1 bout, junior Eddie Bourchier (Hobart, Australia) and sophomore Jason Lee (Melbourne, Australia) teamed up against the Bulls' Wojciech Starakiewicz and Kiril Kolomyts. The Buffalo pairing had an early 1-0 advantage, but Bourchier and Lee came back and led, 5-4. The Lions went on to win the next three games to earn an 8-4 victory and clinch the doubles point for Penn State. With the doubles point already decided, senior captain Ryan Gormley (Las Vegas, Nev.) and freshman Bryan Welnetz picked up an 8-7 (7-3) victory over Buffalo's Mitch Zenaty and Alex Kalinin.
With Penn State leading 1-0, the match switched over to singles action. In the No. 4 bout, Welnetz took on the Bulls' Kalinin. In the first set, Welnetz had an early 3-0 lead on Kalinin and eventually took the frame, 6-4. The Nittany Lion freshman had a 4-1 lead in the second set and eventually won, 6-3. With the straight-set victory, Welnetz gave Penn State a 2-0 lead for the match.
Over on court No. 3, the Bulls picked up a point as Kolomyts defeated Lee in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4. With Penn State carrying a 2-1 lead, Gormley took on Mazzetto in the No. 2 match up. Gormley jumped on Mazzeto early as he led 4-1 in the first set and eventually winning, 6-3. In the second set, the senior continued his dominance as he downed Mazzeto, 6-4, to give the Nittany Lions a 3-1 lead.
The match was clinched in the No. 1 bout where Bourchier defeated Starakiewicz in a close match, 7-5, 7-6 (7-4). In the first set, Starakiewicz had a 4-3 lead, but Bourchier bounced back to win the final three games to have a one set lead. Bourchier had a 6-5 lead in the second set, but Starakiewicz came back to tie it up. Bourchier then won the tiebreaker to clinch the match for Penn State.
With the match already decided, St-Maurice and sophomore Taylor Cohen (Philadelphia, Pa.) each picked up straight-set victories over their opponents. St-Maurice earned a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Tibil while Cohen notched a 6-1, 6-0 win over Kalinin.
The Nittany Lions will square-off with the St. Bonaventure at 9 a.m. tomorrow. Following the match with the Bonnies, the Lions will take on the Bucknell Bison at 2 p.m. Both matches will take place at the Penn State Indoor Tennis Center and can be followed on live scoring via a link at www.GoPSUSports.com.
Penn State will continue its eight-match homestand with Cornell on Feb. 27. The Nittany Lions will take on Army and Lafayette the following day in a doubleheader. Big Ten season will kickoff for Penn State on March 7 with an 11 a.m. match up with Purdue on the University Park campus.
Final Score: #55 Penn State 6 Buffalo 1
Doubles
1. Eddie Bourchier/Jason Lee (PSU) def. Wojciech Starakiewicz/Kiril Kolomyts (Buffalo), 8-4
2. Ryan Gormley/Bryan Welnetz (PSU) def. Marcelo Mazzetto/George Tibil (Buffalo), 8-7 (7-3)
3. Guillaume St-Maurice/C.J. Griffin (PSU) def. Mitch Zenaty/Alex Kalinin (Buffalo), 8-4
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles
1. Eddie Bourchier (PSU) def. Wojciech Starakiewicz (Buffalo), 7-5, 7-6 (7-4)
2. Ryan Gormley (PSU) def. Marcelo Mazzetto (Buffalo), 6-3, 6-4
3. Kiril Kolomyts (Buffalo) def. Jason Lee (PSU), 6-3, 6-4
4. Bryan Welnetz (PSU) def. Alex Kalinin (GT), 6-4, 6-3
5. Guillaume St-Maurice (PSU) def. George Tibil (Buffalo), 6-0, 6-1
6. Taylor Cohen (PSU) def. Kristof Custers (Buffalo), 6-1, 6-0
Order of finish: 4, 3, 2, 1 5, 6