Feb. 10, 2012
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's tennis team (4-2) enters its fourth weekend of spring competition looking to secure a winning record for their unprecedented nine-match homestand. The Nittany Lions will take on the Buffalo Bulls (1-2) and Bucknell Bison (1-0) in the final weekend doubleheader at the Indoor Tennis Center. The action begins at 10 a.m. Saturday. First serve of the second match is slated for 3 p.m. Admission is free and free pizza will be available for all fans.
Last weekend, Penn State split a Saturday doubleheader against No. 32 Virginia Tech and Bloomsburg. Senior Jason Lee (Sydney, Australia) and sophomore Russell Bader (Austin, Texas) took down their second-straight nationally ranked opponent (No. 51) in the first doubles slot. The potent duo defeated Virginia Tech's Luka Somen and Corrado Degl'Incerti Tocci, 8-6. Bryan Welnetz picked up the Nittany Lions lone point in a 6-1 loss, taking down Corrado Delg'Incerti Tocci, 4-6, 6-4, 10-4, in the No. 5 singles bout.
The Nittany Lions rebounded later in the afternoon with a convincing, 6-1, win over Bloomsburg. In the victory, all three doubles teams claimed victory over the Huskies, highlighted by senior Taylor Cohen (Philadelphia, Pa.) and junior C.J. Griffin (Portland, Mich.) defeating State College-native Ricky Dove and Jeff Nuhfer in first doubles, 8-2. Penn State cruised to victory from there, taking five-of-six singles matches, including junior Guanhua Chen (Dalian, China) picking up his first win of the season (6-2, 6-0) in dominant fashion.
With a doubles victory last weekend, Lee moved to 14th in Penn State history with 52 career doubles victories. With one victory this weekend, the Aussie would tie Brendan Lynch (2005-08) for 13th place and with two triumphs, Lee stands to tie Eric Meditz (1995-98) for 12th all-time with 54 wins. Lee also remains in 20th place on the all-time Penn State singles victories list with 50 wins. With two more wins, Lee will tie Chad Skorupka (1990-94) for 19th place with 52 career wins.
Junior Bryan Welnetz (Laredo, Texas) has opened the season on a hot streak, winning four of his first five spring singles matches. The Texan is 11-7 overall and has won seven of his last 10 matches. Welnetz has also 3-3 doubles record this spring.
Freshman Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic) remains No. 80 in the ITA singles rankings this week. Since opening the season with a loss to No. 59 N.C. State's Robbie Mudge, the freshman won three straight matches before falling against Virginia Tech. A 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 6-1 win over Princeton's Matt Spindler highlights his season thus far.
Lead by 2010 MAC coach of the year, Lee Nickell, the Bulls enter the weekend following losses to Cornell (7-0) and Brown (5-2) before earning their first victory over Bryant (5-2). The Bulls have mixed a talented roster of returning players with an impressive incoming freshman class to make for a dangerous opponent. Freshman Damien David has worked his way into the No. 1 singles position for the Bulls after posting a 3-0 record last weekend. Buffalo also returns last season's No. 1 and No. 2 singles competitors, Wojciech Starakiewicz and Vusa Hove.
The Bison, led by 10th-year head coach Rebecca Helt, opened the season by overpowering the St. Francis (Pa.) Red Flash, 6-1. Senior Gregg Cohenca enters the match looking to enter the top-10 in Bison history in both singles and doubles win totals. Sophomore Kyle Rosen also looks to build off an opening weekend where he swept his singles and doubles matches.
The Nittany Lions will return to the court next Saturday, Feb. 18 to conclude their February slate of matches with a 4 p.m. contest against Binghamton. Admission is free to all fans. Free pizza will be distributed for all fans, as well.