Sept. 16, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's tennis team kicked off the 2011 fall season with a total of nine victories in day one of the Farnsworth/Princeton Invitational on Friday. Two doubles pairings and five players in the singles tournament advanced in their flights. Action will continue tomorrow at the Lenz Tennis Center.
In doubles action, the Nittany Lions earned a total of four victories. In Flight "A", sophomore Russell Bader (Austin, Texas) and junior Bryan Welnetz (Laredo, Texas) advanced to the third round as they picked up two victories on the day. In the first round, Bader and Welnetz defeated Princeton's Auggie Bloom and Matija Pecotic, 8-6. The duo continued their success against Erik Blumenkranz and Joel Samaha of Yale, taking the second round match, 8-6. The pair will return to the court tomorrow against St. John's Milo Hauk and Gustav Kallen.
Also in the Flight "A" doubles bracket, senior Jason Lee (Sydney, Australia) and junior C.J. Griffin (Portland, Mich.) took their first round match against Princeton's Michael Lin and Yohei Sohji, 8-5. Lee and Griffin could not overcome Stefan Bojic and Mladenov of St. John's, falling 8-4 in second round competition.
In Flight "B" doubles, the Nittany Lions managed to send one pair to the second round of the consolation bracket. Sophomore Chris Young (Melbourne, Australia) and Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic) fell to Winston Lin and Bert Vancura of Columbia, 8-4. In the Nittany Lion's second Flight "B" doubles match, sophomore Harry Seaborn (North Salem, N.Y.) and junior Guanhua Chen (DaLian, China) fell to Cornell's Venkat Iyer and Alex Sidney, 8-1. In the final first round match in Flight "B" play, seniors Taylor Cohen (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Christopher Hasyn (Lansdale, Pa.) fell, 8-1, to Vusa Hove and Jason Simon of Buffalo. In the first round of consolation play, Hasyn and Cohen advanced with an 8-6 triumph over Rajeev Deb-Sen and Ian Laster of Columbia.
The Nittany Lions tallied a total of five wins in singles action on the day. In Flight "A", Welnetz defeated Hauk, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 and will face Fairleigh Dickinson's Arvis Berzins tomorrow. Additionally in Flight "A", Bader fell to Bloom, 6-4, 6-2. Bader will face Eugen Brazdil of the University of Pennsylvania in the first round of consolation play.
Flight "B" was the strong bracket for the Nittany Lions as Young, Cohen, and Hanzlik all earned victories. Young took down Jonathan Hefetz of Binghamton in three sets, 6-0, 5-7, 6-2, and will play Damien David of Buffalo tomorrow. Cohen split the first two sets with Princeton's Matt Siow, falling 3-6 in the first set and taking the second set, 6-4. Cohen won a dramatic third set tie-breaker 7-6 (4) in order to advance to tomorrow's second round match against Columbia's Nathanial Gery. Hanzlik defeated Fairleigh Dickinson's Ibrahim Shams, 6-2, 6-4, for the right to play Danny Riggs of Cornell in the second round.
Hasyn faced a tough loss in Flight "C", falling to Max Schnur of Columbia 6-2, 2-6, 4-6. He will play Farleigh Dickinson's Dom Hemy in the consolation bracket tomorrow.
Griffin earned a hard fought victory in Flight "D", defeating Ruben Haggai of Binghamton, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4. Seaborn also fell to Daniel Faierman of Yale in Flight "D" play, 6-2, 6-3. Chen fell to Michael Lin of Princeton in Flight "E" play. 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.
Doubles:
Flight "A"
Round 1) Jason Lee/C.J. Griffin (PSU) def. Lin/Shoji (Princeton), 8-5
Round 1) Russell Bader/Bryan Welnetz (PSU) def. Bloom/Pecotic (Princeton), 8-6
Round 2) Bojic/Mladenov (St. John's) def. Jason Lee/C.J. Griffin (PSU), 8-4
Round 2) Russell Bader/Bryan Welnetz (PSU) def. Blumenkranz/Samaha (Yale), 8-6
Flight "B"
Round 1) Lin/Vancura (Columbia) def. Chris Young/Tomas Hanzlik (PSU), 8-4
Round 1) Iyer/Sidney (Cornell) def. Harry Seaborn/Guanhua Chen (PSU), 8-1
Round 1) Hove/Simon (Buffalo) def. Taylor Cohen/Chris Hasyn (PSU), 8-1
Consolation Round 1) Faierman/Krumholz (Yale) def. Chris Young/Tomas Hanzlik (PSU), 9-7
Consolation Round 1) McCourt/Richardson (Princeton) def. Harry Seaborn/Guanhua Chen (PSU), 8-6
Consolation Round 1) Taylor Cohen/Chris Hasyn (PSU) def. Deb-Sen/Laster (Columbia), 8-6
Singles:
Flight "A"
Round 1) Bryan Welnetz (PSU) def. Milo Hauk (St. John's), 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
Round 1) Auggie Bloom (Princeton) def. Russell Bader (PSU), 6-4, 6-2
Flight "B"
Round 1) Chris Young (PSU) def. Jonathan Hefetz (Binghamton), 6-0, 5-7, 6-2
Round 1) Taylor Cohen (PSU) def. Matt Siow (Princeton), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4)
Round 1) Tomas Hanzlik (PSU) def. Ibrahim Shams (FDU), 6-2, 6-4
Flight "C"
Round 1) Max Schnur (Columbia) def. Christopher Hasyn (PSU), 2-6, 6-2, 6-4
Flight "D"
Round 1) C.J. Griffin (PSU) def. Ruben Haggai (Binghamton), 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4
Round 1) Daniel Faierman (Yale) def. Harry Seaborn (PSU), 6-2, 6-3
Flight "E"
Round 1) Michael Lin (Princeton) def. Guanhua Chen (PSU), 7-6, 6-3