Oct. 14, 2011
Charlottesville, Va. - The Penn State men's tennis team will open play in its second tournament of the fall season Friday, Oct. 14, as part of a 15-team draw in the annual UVa Fall Classic. The tournament will conclude Sunday, Oct. 16 and will feature East Tennessee State, Eastern Kentucky, George Washington, James Madison, Liberty, Maryland, Morgan State, Norfolk State, Old Dominion, Radford, VCU, Virginia Tech, William & Mary, and host Virginia.
The tournament will begin Friday with two rounds of doubles play, followed by one round of singles. Saturday will feature the final round of doubles, followed by two rounds of singles matches. The tournament concludes Sunday with singles championships.
Penn State will feature nine players in the singles portion and will also sport four doubles teams this weekend. Featured in the "Blue" singles draw will be sophomore Russell Bader (Austin, Texas). Bader will open play against Filip Svensson of VCU looking to continue his fall season success after taking the Flight "A" consolation bracket title at the Farnsworth/Princeton Invitational on the heels of defeating St. John's Milo Hauk, 6-0, 6-7, 7-6.
Junior Brian Welnetz (Laredo, Texas) will compete in the "Orange" singles bracket and will play Virginia Tech's Will Pine to open the tournament. Freshman Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic) is featured in the "White" singles bracket against Jamie Whiteford of William & Mary.
Senior Taylor Cohen (Philadelphia, Pa.) and sophomore Chris Young (Melbourne, Australia) will compete in the "Black" draw. Juniors Guanhua Chen (DaLian, China) and C.J. Griffin (Portland, Mich.) will square off in the "Gold" bracket. Rounding out singles competition, seniors Jason Lee (Sydney, Australia) and Christopher Hasyn (Lansdale, Pa.) will play in the "Red" singles tournament.
Four teams of Nittany Lions will also take the court in doubles action this weekend. Young and Cohen will be featured in the "Blue" doubles grouping. Griffin and Hasyn will play in "Orange" doubles and Hanzlik and Lee will square off in "White" doubles. Welnetz and Bader will team up to take on "Black" doubles competition to round out the bracket.
Following the UVa Fall Classic, Penn State will return home before heading back to Charlottesville, Va. to compete in the ITA Regional Championship, Oct. 20-23.