April 24, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's tennis team (10-17, 0-10) fell to No. 24 Indiana, 6-1, in the season finale at Penn State Indoor Tennis Center. Senior Eddie Bourchier (Hobart, Australia) won his final singles match to give Penn State its lone point of the afternoon. No. 11 seed Penn State will travel to Madison, Wis. for a Big Ten Tournament first round match against No. 6 seed Wisconsin.
Penn State could not match the emotions of senior day early, falling in all three doubles matches. Sophomore Bryan Welnetz (Laredo, Texas) and freshman Harry Seaborn (North Salem, N.Y.) started slowly in third doubles, eventually falling, 8-2. Next, juniors Chris Hasyn (Lansdale, Pa.) and Jason Lee (Sydney, Australia) jumped out to a 3-1 lead against the No. 87 ITA doubles tandem of Josh MacTaggart and Stephen Vogl. They could not keep up the momentum, dropping all but one of the final eight points, falling, 8-4. Finally, Bourchier and freshman Russell Bader (Austin, Texas) fell to the No. 63 ITA doubles team of Jeremy Langer and Santiago Gruter, 8-5, to complete the sweep.
Trailing 1-0, Penn State looked to change their fortunes in singles play. Welnetz could not however provide the spark the Nittany Lions sorely needed. The sophomore fell (6-2, 6-1) to Isade Juneau in fourth singles to give Indiana a 2-0 lead. Bader started slowly in third singles as well, dropping the first set, 6-1. Bader then dropped the first three points of the second set before staging a comeback to tie the set at three. MacTaggart then took the next three points to give the Hoosiers their third point.
Hasyn managed to force a tie breaker in his second set but fell (6-1, 7-6 (3)), clinching the match for Indiana. After the match had been decided, Lee dropped a tough match to Gruter (6-4, 2-6, 6-3).
Playing in the final home match of his illustrious career, Bourchier took on Langer in first singles looking to give the Nittany Lions their first point of the afternoon. The pair split the first two sets before Bourchier scratched and clawed to a 5-4 lead in the third set. The Aussie powered an exceptional forehand shot that Langer fired into the net eliciting a triumphant scream from Bourchier. The win gave the Nittany Lions their first point of the afternoon.
Finally, Seaborn dropped the sixth singles bout to Dimitrije Tasic (6-4, 6-3) to finish the match.
#24 Indiana 6, Penn State 1:
Doubles:
1. # 63 Jeremy Langer/Santiago Gruter (IND) def. Russell Bader/Eddie Bourchier (PSU), 8-5
2. #87 Josh MacTaggart/Stephen Vogl (IND) def. Chris Hasyn/Jason Lee (PSU), 8-4
3. Isade Juneau/Will Kendall (IND) def. Harry Seaborn/Bryan Welnetz (PSU), 8-2
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1
Singles:
1. Eddie Bourchier (PSU) def. Jeremy Langer (IND), 6-4, 5-7, 6-4
2. Santiago Gruter (IND) def. Jason Lee (PSU), 6-4, 2-6, 6-3
3. Josh MacTaggart (IND) def. Russell Bader (PSU), 6-1, 6-3
4. Isade Juneau (IND) def. Bryan Welnetz (PSU), 6-2, 6-1
5. Stephen Vogl (IND) def. Chris Hasyn (PSU), 6-1, 7-6 (3)
6. Dimitrije Tasic (IND) def. Harry Seaborn (PSU), 6-4, 6-3
Order of finish: 4, 3, 5, 2, 1, 6