Feb. 5, 2011
University Park, Pa. - The Penn State men's tennis team (3-2) dropped a hard-fought match to No. 56 N.C. State (5-3), 4-3, Saturday at the Penn State Indoor Tennis Center. Sophomore Bryan Welnetz (Laredo, Texas) picked up two wins on the day in third singles and third doubles to lead the Nittany Lions.
The Nittany Lions started slowly, dropping the first two doubles pairings. The No. 2 doubles tandem of freshmen Russell Bader (Austin, Texas) and Chris Young (Melbourne, Australia) could not outduel a strong performance from the Wolfpack's Jaime Pulgar and Dave Thomson in an 8-3 loss. Senior Eddie Bourchier (Hobart, Australia) and junior Jason Lee (Sydney, Australia) then fell to Dominic Hodgson and Julian Sullivan in the No. 1 pairing, 9-7, to give the Wolfpack the first point of the match. Welnetz and junior Chris Hasyn (Lansdale, Pa.) rebounded from a 4-0 deficit to defeat Ivan Sanchez Gomez and Sean Weber in the third doubles bout, 8-7 (8-6).
With Penn State trailing 1-0, the match turned to singles action. After dropping the first set, Bader impressively rebounded to defeat Sanchez Gomez (3-6, 6-2, 6-3) in fourth singles to tie the match 1-1. Welnetz also came from behind in the No. 3 singles bout, beating Thomson. After dropping the first set, he went on a tear, winning the next two sets to give the Nittany Lions a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win and the lead at 2-1.
The match then turned to two highly contested matches on courts one and two. In No. 2 singles action, Lee jumped out to a quick start, taking the first set, 6-4, but dropped the second set, 6-2. In the deciding set, he fell behind 5-3 before making a comeback attempt. The effort fell short though, as Lee fell in heart breaking fashion to Hodgson (6-4, 2-6, 5-7) for the Wolfpack's second point of the match.
Attention turned to the No. 1 singles match-up featuring Bouchier and Pulgar. Bourchier dropped the first set, 6-3, before rebounding in an impressive second set. Bourchier faced a 5-4 deficit before pulling even and taking set in an entertaining 7-5 tie break. He could not defeat Pulgar though, dropping the third set and the match (3-6, 7-6 (5), 2-6) to give the Wolfpack a 3-2 lead.
In the No. 5 singles match, Sullivan defeated Young (6-2, 6-3) to clinch the fourth point and the match for N.C. State. In the No. 6 bout Hasyn earned a tough victory over Rob Lowe (1-6, 6-4, 1-0 (11)) in sixth singles to the give the Nittany Lions a third point.
The second match of Saturday's doubleheader against Bloomsburg, which was scheduled to start at 2 p.m., was postponed due to inclement weather. The match will be rescheduled.
Penn State will remain home next weekend for three matches. The Nittany Lions will begin the weekend Saturday, Feb. 12 by welcoming Cornell. Penn State will then host a doubleheader Sunday, Feb. 13 against Buffalo at 11 a.m. and Bucknell at 4 p.m.
N.C. State 4, Penn State 3:
Doubles:
1. Dominic Hodgson/Julian Sullivan (N.C. State) def. Eddie Bourchier/Jason Lee (PSU), 9-7
2. Jaime Pulgar/Dave Thomson (N.C. State) def. Russell Bader/Chris Young (PSU), 8-3
3. Chris Hasyn/Bryan Welnetz (PSU) def. Ivan Sanchez/Gomez/Sean Weber (N.C. State), 8-7 (6)
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3
Singles:
1. No. 68 Jamie Pulgar (N.C. State) def. Eddie Bourchier (PSU), 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-2
2. No. 86 Dominic Hodgson (N.C. State) def. Jason Lee (PSU), 4-6, 6-2, 7-5
3. Bryan Welnetz (PSU) def. No. 106 Dave Thomson (N.C. State), 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
4. Russell Bader (PSU) def. Ivan Sanchez Gomez (N.C. State), 3-6, 6-2, 6-3
5. Julian Sullivan (N.C. State) def. Chris Young (PSU), 6-2, 6-3
6. Chris Hasyn (PSU) def. Rob Lowe (N.C. State), 1-6, 6-4, 1-0 (11)
Order of finish: 4, 3, 2, 1, 5, 6