March 11, 2012
COLUMBUS, OHIO - The Penn State men's tennis team (9-4, 0-1) fell at No. 2 Ohio State (17-1, 3-0) in its Big Ten conference opener Sunday afternoon, 7-0. Senior Jason Lee capped off a successful week, earning his fourth singles victory in that span to move into fifth place on the Nittany Lions careers doubles victories with 65 wins.
Junior C.J. Griffin (Portland, Mich.) and red-shirt junior Chirstopher Hasyn (Lansdale, Pa.) opened doubles play with an 8-5 loss in third doubles. No. 29 Lee and sophomore Russell Bader (Austin, Texas) responded though, evening the doubles portion of the match with an 8-6 victory over No. 28 Devin McCarthy and Ille Van Engelen on court one. Senior Taylor Cohen (Philadelphia, Pa.) and junior Bryan Welnetz (Laredo, Texas) could not overcome Peter Kobelt and Connor Smith in No. 2 doubles though, falling 9-7, and giving Ohio State the first point of the day.
Hasyn then fell to Hunter Callahan in sixth singles, 6-3, 6-2 to give Ohio State a 2-0 lead. No. 121-freshman Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic) then fell to No. 105 Van Engelen on court two. Ohio State then clinched the match when No. 44 McCarthy upended Cohen in the fourth singles bout.
After the match had been clinched, Lee, Welnetz, and Bader all fell to ITA Top-125 opponents in the first, fifth and third singles slots respectively.
The Nittany Lions will return to play Saturday, March 17 when they travel to Ithica, N.Y. for their final non-conference match of the season against Cornell.
#2 Ohio State 7, Penn State 0
Doubles:
1. #29 Jason Lee/Russell Bader (PSU) def. #28 Devin McCarthy/Ille Van Engelen (OSU) 8-6
2. Peter Kobelt/Connor Smith (OSU) def. Taylor Cohen/Bryan Welnetz (PSU) 9-7
3. Blaz Rola/Nelson Vick (OSU) def. C.J. Griffin/Christopher Hasyn (PSU) 8-5
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles:
1. #6 Blaz Rola (OSU) def. Jason Lee (PSU) 6-3, 6-1
2. #105 Ille Van Engelen (OSU) def. #121 Tomas Hanzlik (PSU) 6-2, 6-1
3. #58 Peter Kobelt (OSU) def. Russell Bader (PSU) 7-5, 6-2
4. #44 Devin McCarthy (OSU) def. Taylor Cohen (PSU) 6-1, 6-4
5. #114 Connor Smith (OSU) def. Bryan Welnetz (PSU) 6-4, 6-0
6. Hunter Callahan (OSU) def. Christopher Hasyn (PSU) 6-3, 6-2
Order of finish: 6, 2, 4, 1, 5, 3