Oct. 18, 2012
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Penn State men's tennis Senior Guanhua Chen(DaLian, China) and sophomore Ramy Labna(Doha, Qatar) competed in the qualifying singles round at the ITA Atlantic Regional on Thursday. Labna picked up a win in his first round match, but couldn't hold on in the second round. The regional is being hosted in Charlottesville, Va. by the University of Virginia. The main draw singles and doubles brackets will begin on Friday. First round singles matches begin at 10:00 a.m. and first round doubles matches will be played starting at 3:00p.m.
Ramy Labna competed against Morgan State's Jannick Tash in his first round match and he won 6-3, 2-6, 6-1. In the second round of qualifying, Labna fell 0-6, 6-3, 6-1 to St. Joseph's Pierre Brondeau.
In his first round match, Guanhua Chen dropped a 6-1, 6-2 result to St. Joseph's Tommy Gates.
In the main singles draw, Russell Bader(Austin, Texas), Tomas Hanzlik(Prague, Czech Republic), and Bryan Welnetz(Laredo, Texas) all earned byes through the Round of 128 into the Round of 64. Bader will face the winner of the match between VCU's Dylan McCloskey and Morgan State's Duk Young Park. Hanzlik will compete against either St. Joseph's Alex Veronis or James Madison's Maxi Branth. Welnetz will matchup against Georgetown's Dan Khanin or Virginia Tech's Marko Lovrinovic.
In the Round of 128, junior Chris Young(Melbourne, Australia) will face George Washington's Viktor Svensson. The winner will take on Virginia's Mitchell Polnet. C.J. Griffin(Portland, Mich.) will matchup against William & Mary's Ben Hoogland in the Round of 128, with the winner facing George Washington's Nikita Fomin.
Freshman Matt Barry(Lido Beach, N.Y.) takes on Liberty's Egon Samaai in his first match, with the hope of advancing to face Old Dominion's Albert Ochagavia. In another Round of 128 match, Roman Trkulja(Toronto, Canada) will face one of the players advancing out of the qualifying bracket. If Trkulja advances, he will face VCU's Michal Voscek.
Bader and Trkulja earned a bye out the Round of 64 in the main doubles draw. They will face the winner between teams from VCU and Liberty.
Barry and Griffin will face Old Dominion's Wesley Barrett and Tim Schweig in their first match. Chen and Young take on Georgetown's Charlie Caris and Casey Distaso in a Round of 64 match. Hanzlik and Welnetz will pair up to take on St. Joseph's Max Montague and Andres Urrea in the first round.
Please check back to gopsusports.com throughout the weekend for coverage of the 2012 ITA Atlantic Regional. For brackets and more information, you can also check http://www.virginiasports.com/sports/m-tennis/va-m-tennis-body.html.
Singles:
Qualifying:
First Round) Tommy Gates(St. Joe's) def. Guanhua Chen(PSU), 6-1, 6-2
Ramy Labna(PSU) def. Jannick Tash(MORG ST), 6-3, 2-6, 6-1
Second Round) Pierre Brondeau(St. Joe's) def. Ramy Labna(PSU), 0-6, 6-3, 6-1