April 9, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's tennis team (12-7, 1-4) lost a close match to a talented No. 26 Michigan team in a 4-3 decision on Friday. The Nittany Lions will return to action on Sunday starting with an 11 a.m. matchup with Michigan State followed by a 5 p.m. start with Bloomsburg. Both matches will be played at Sarni Tennis Center, weather permitting.
In doubles action, Michigan won two of the three doubles matches to gain an early 1-0 advantage in the overall match. Michigan then won the first two singles matches to lead 3-0, but Penn State won the next four singles matches to tie the match up at three. It came down to court No. 5 in which Michigan won to clinch the 4-3 victory.
In the No. 3 doubles bout, senior Ryan Gormley (Las Vegas, Nev.) and sophomore Taylor Cohen (Philadelphia, Pa.) picked up an 8-4 victory over Michigan's Chris Cha and Chris Madden. 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 George Navas and Mike Sroczynski. The doubles point was then decided when Jason Jung and Evan King defeated senior Guillaume St-Maurice (Saint-Eustache, Quebec) and junior Eddie Bourchier (Hobart, Australia), 8-4.
With Michigan leading 1-0, the match moved to singles competition. In the No. 2 bout, Gormley faced King. In the first set, King had a 5-3 lead. Gormley rallied back though and forced a tiebreaker. Nevertheless, King won the tiebreaker, 7-4. From there, the 97th ranked player in the country in King, won the second set, 6-3, to give Michigan a 2-0 lead.
In the No. 3 matchup, Lee faced Sroczynski. With Sroczynski winning the first set, Lee jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the second set and was serving for match point. However, Sroczynski battled back and forced a tiebreaker. From there, he won the tiebreaker to earn a straight-set 6-4, 7-6 (1) victory. Michigan had a 3-0 lead.
In the No. 4 bout, Hardie faced Navas in what was a really competitive match. The first set went to a tiebreaker, in which Hardie won, 7-5. In the second set, Hardie had a 4-2 lead, but Navas rallied and took a 5-4 lead. Hardie then battled back and forced a tiebreaker. Hardie won the breaker again, 7-4, to get Penn State on the board. Michigan had a 3-1 lead.
The No. 1 matchup featured Bourchier and 41st-ranked Jung. The first set was back and forth and eventually went to a tiebreaker. Bourchier won the tiebreaker, 7-5, to have a one set advantage. Jung came back and won the second set though, 6-3, to force a third set. In the third set, Bourchier jumped out to a 4-1 lead and never looked back, winning the set, 6-3, and earning the upset victory over Jung. Michigan's lead dwindled to 3-2.
Penn State tied the match at three when freshman Bryan Welnetz (Laredo, Texas) knocked off Chris Cha. In the first set, Welnetz had a 3-2 lead. From there, he won three of the next four games to take the first frame. From there, Welnetz breezed through the second set with a 6-1 victory to tie the match up at three for the Nittany Lions.
The overall match came down to the No. 5 matchup between St-Maurice and Madden. In the first set, Madden never trailed as he won, 6-4. St-Maurice answered back in the second set though to win, 6-1. That forced a match-deciding third set. With the set tied at three, Madden won the final three games to clinch the match for Michigan.
Following this weekend's matches, Penn State returns home again next weekend for a pair of Big Ten matches vs. Illinois and Indiana. The Nittany Lions will conclude their regular season on the weekend of April 23 with a pair of road matchups with Wisconsin (4/23) and Northwestern (4/25).
Final Score: #26 Michigan 4 #63Penn State 3
Doubles
1. #33 George Navas/Mike Sroczynski (Mich.) def. Jason Lee/Warren Hardie (PSU), 8-6
2. #43 Jason Jung/Evan King (Mich.) def. Eddie Bourchier/Guillaume St-Maurice (PSU), 8-4
3. Ryan Gormley/Taylor Cohen (PSU) def. Chris Madden/Chris Cha (Mich.), 8-4
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles
1. Eddie Bourchier (PSU) def. #41 Jason Jung (Mich.), 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-3
2. Evan King (Mich.) def. Ryan Gormley (PSU), 7-6 (4), 6-3
3. Mike Sroczynski (Michigan) def. Jason Lee (PSU), 6-4, 7-6 (1)
4. Warren Hardie (PSU) def. George Navas, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4)
5. Chris Madden (Mich.) def. Guillaume St-Maurice (PSU), 6-4, 1-6, 6-3
6. Bryan Welnetz (PSU) def. Chris Cha (Mich.), 6-3, 6-1
Order of finish: 2, 3, 4, 1, 6, 5