April 16, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -
The Penn State men's tennis team (14-8, 2-5) lost a tough match to No. 17 Illinois (15-8, 7-0) on Friday, 6-1. The Nittany Lions will return to action on Sunday with a noon matchup against the No. 41 Indiana Hoosiers at Sarni Tennis Center.
In doubles action, Illinois won two doubles matches to gain an early 1-0 advantage in the overall match. The third doubles match went undecided due to impending inclement weather in the area. With all singles matches in action, rain forced the match to move inside. Illinois then went on to win five of the six singles matches to earn a 6-1 victory. In the No. 3 doubles bout, senior Ryan Gormley (Las Vegas, Nev.) and sophomore Taylor Cohen (Philadelphia, Pa.) were downed by Illinois' 79th-ranked pairing of Dennis Nevolo and Johnny Hamui, 8-0. In the No. 1 doubles matchup, sophomore Jason Lee (Melbourne, Australia) and freshman Warren Hardie (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) were shut down in a close match, 8-6, with No. 89 Abe Souza and Marek Czerwinski. With the doubles point already decided, the match between senior Guillaume St-Maurice (Saint-Eustache, Quebec) and junior Eddie Bourchier (Hobart, Australia) and Illinois' Stephen Hoh and Connor Roth went unfinished, with the Illini pairing leading 6-5 at the time.
With Illinois leading 1-0, the match moved to singles competition. In the No. 2 bout, Gormley faced No. 76 Souza. The Illinois product took a commanding one set lead with a 6-2 win in the first frame. Souza went on to win the second set, 6-3, to give the Illini a 2-0 lead in the match.
In the No. 3 matchup, Hardie faced No. 76 Czerwinski. With Czerwinski winning the first set, Hardie jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second set. However, Czerwinski battled back by winning six of the next seven games to secure a two set victory, 6-2, 6-3. The overall match was then clinched when 37th-ranked Nevolo defeated Bourchier, 6-4, 7-5.
With the match already decided, Hamui defeated Lee in the No. 4 bout, 6-2, 6-4. After cruising through the first set, Hamui had to rally in the second set. With Lee leading 4-1 in the second set, Hamui won the next five games to win the set and match. On court No. 5, freshman Bryan Welnetz (Laredo, Texas) was defeated by Hoh, 6-3, 6-3. St-Maurice ended the day with a victory over Bruno Abdelnour, 7-5, 6-7 (7-5), 1-0 (10-5).
Following this weekend's matches, Penn State will travel to Wisconsin and Northwestern next weekend to close out the regular season. The Big Ten Championship begins on April 29 in Bloomington, Ind.
Final Score: #17 Illinois 6 #61 Penn State 1
Doubles
1. #89 Abe Souza/Marek Czerwinski (Ill.) def. Jason Lee/Warren Hardie (PSU), 8-6
2. Stephen Hoh/Connor Roth (Ill.) led Eddie Bourchier/Guillaume St-Maurice (PSU), 6-5 (unfinished)
3. #79 Dennis Nevolo/Johnny Hamui (Ill.) def. Ryan Gormley/Taylor Cohen (PSU), 8-0
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles
1. #37 Dennis Nevolo (Ill.) def. Eddie Bourchier (PSU), 6-4, 7-5
2. #76 Abe Souza (Ill.) def. Ryan Gormley (PSU), 6-2, 6-3
3. #64 Marek Czerwinski (Ill.) def. Warren Hardie (PSU), 6-2, 6-3
4. Johnny Hamui (Ill.) def. Jason Lee (PSU), 6-2, 6-4
5. Stephen Hoh (Ill.) def. Bryan Welnetz (PSU), 6-3, 6-3
6. Guillaume St-Maurice (PSU) def. Bruno Abdelnour (Ill.), 7-5, 6-7 (5), 1-0 (10-5)
Order of finish: 2, 3, 1, 4, 5, 6