Sept. 15, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's tennis team will kick off its fall 2011 season Friday, Sept. 16 as part of a 10-team draw in the Farnsworth/Princeton Invitational. The tournament will run through Sunday, Sept. 18 will feature tough competition, including Binghamton, Buffalo, Columbia, Cornell, Fairleigh Dickinson, Penn, Princeton, St. John's and Yale.
The tournament will begin at 9 a.m. Friday with two rounds of doubles and one round of singles. Saturday will have one round of doubles followed by two rounds of singles. The finals for all doubles and singles draws will be played Sunday.
Head Coach Jeff Zinn and Assistant Coach Chris Cagle enter their first year at the helm of the Nittany Lions sporting nine returning players and one new addition to the roster for the 2011-12 campaign. Penn State finished last season 10-18 overall. Zinn arrives after spending 15 seasons at Wake Forest. He amassed a career record of 231-157, including a 78-62 mark in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Demon Deacon also appeared in 12 NCAA tournaments under Zinn's tutelage.
The Nittany Lions will have a total of 10 players participating this weekend in both singles and doubles competition. Featured in Flight "A" singles will be sophomore Russell Bader (Austin, Texas) and junior Bryan Welnetz (Laredo, Texas). Bader is coming off of a successful freshman campaign last season, which saw him win a team-high 17 singles matches. Welnetz posted 11 singles victories last season.
Competing in Flight "B" singles for the Lions will be sophomore Chris Young (Melbourne, Australia), senior Taylor Cohen (Philadelphia, Pa.), and freshman Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic). Young joined the Nittany Lions shortly before the spring season started last year and went on to post seven single victories, including a win over Army's Tripp Johnson (7-5, 6-4) in his second collegiate match. Cohen had his junior season shortened by injury, but managed to post a victory on opening day against Mark Goldberg of Lehigh (4-6, 6-1, 6-2). Hanzlik joins the Nittany Lions as the International Tennis Federation's No. 83 ranked junior world player.
Senior Christopher Hasyn (Lansdale, Pa.) will square off in Flight "C" singles for Penn State. Hasyn earned nine victories during the 2011 spring season for the Nittany Lions.
Flight "D" competition will feature junior C.J. Griffin (Portland, Mich.). Griffin returns after earning two singles victories last season. Sophomore Harry Seaborn (North Salem, N.Y.) will also compete in Flight "D" for Penn State. Seaborn posted a 3-3 record in singles matches in his freshman season. Junior Guanhua Chen (DaLian, China) will be featured in Flight "E" for the Nittany Lions.
In doubles competition, senior Jason Lee (Sydney, Australia) and Griffin will team up in the Flight "A" competition. Bader and Welnetz will also pair up in the Flight "A" draw. Three pairs of Nittany Lions, including Young and Hanzlik, Seaborn and Chen, and Cohen and Hasyn will all team up in the Flight "B" doubles competition.
Following the Farnsworth/Princeton Invitational, Penn State will return home before heading to Charlottesville, Va. to compete in the ITA Regional Championships, Oct. 20-23.