April 23, 2010
MADISON, Wis. - The Penn State men's tennis team (14-10, 2-7) dropped a 6-1 loss to the No. 27 Wisconsin Badgers on Friday. The Nittany Lions will return to action on Sunday with a 1 p.m. matchup at the Northwestern Wildcats.
In doubles action, Wisconsin won two of the three doubles matches to gain an early 1-0 advantage in the overall match. The Badgers then won five of the six singles matches to secure a 6-1 victory.
In the No. 3 doubles bout, freshmen Warren Hardie (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) and C.J. Griffin (Portland, Mich.) suffered an 8-4 loss to Michael Dierberger and Patrick Pohlmann. Wisconsin then clinched the doubles point on court No. 2 when Luke Rassow-Kantor and Chris Freeman defeated sophomore Taylor Cohen (Philadelphia, Pa.) and senior Ryan Gormley (Las Vegas, Nev.), 8-2. With the doubles point already decided, senior Guillaume St-Maurice (Saint-Eustache, Quebec) and junior Eddie Bourchier (Hobart, Australia) picked up a big upset over the nation's 16th-ranked pairing in Moritz Baumann and Marek Michalicka, 8-7.
With Wisconsin leading 1-0, the match moved to singles competition. In the No. 3 bout, Hardie suffered a 6-1, 6-0 loss to Pohlmann. Wisconsin then increased its lead to 3-0 when Bauman defeated Gormley in the No. 2 bout, 6-4, 6-2.Wisconsin clinched the match when Freeman defeated freshman Bryan Welnetz (Laredo, Texas) in the No. 4 bout, 6-3, 6-1.
With the match already decided, Cohen saw action in the No. 5 matchup, where he was downed by Billy Bertha, 6-4, 6-2. Bourchier had a difficult matchup with Michalicka, who is the 28th-ranked player in the country. Michalicka defeated Bourchier in straight-sets, 7-5, 7-5. The overall match came to an end when St-Maurice defeated Ricardo Martin in the No. 6 bout, 6-4, 5-7, 1-0 (10-5).
Following this weekend, Penn State will turn its attention to the 2010 Big Ten Championships in Bloomington, Ind. The Big Ten Men's Tennis Championship will be held at Indiana April 29-May 2, 2010.
Final Score: #27 Wisconsin 6 #75 Penn State 1
Doubles
1. Eddie Bourchier/Guillaume St-Maurice (PSU) def. #16 Moritz Baumann/ Marek Michalicka (Wis.), 8-7
2. Luke Rassow-Kantor and Chris Freeman (Wis.) def. Taylor Cohen/Ryan Gormley (PSU), 8-2
3. Michael Dierberger/ Patrick Pohlmann (Wis.) def. C.J. Griffin/Warren Hardie (PSU), 8-4
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1
Singles
1. #28 Marek Michalicka (Wis.) def. Eddie Bourchier (PSU), 7-5, 7-5
2. #19 Moritz Baumann (Wis.) def. Ryan Gormley (PSU), 6-4, 6-2
3. Patrick Pohlmann (Wis.) def. Warren Hardie (PSU), 6-1, 6-0
4. Chris Freeman (Wis.) def. Bryan Welnetz (PSU), 6-3, 6-1
5. Billy Bertha (Wis.) def. Taylor Cohen (PSU), 6-4, 6-2
6. Guillaume St-Maurice (PSU) def. Ricardo Martin (Wis.), 6-4, 5-7, 1-0 (10-5)
Order of finish: 3, 2, 4, 5, 1, 6