Feb. 2, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's tennis team swept their doubleheader on Saturday. In the first match of the day, the Nittany Lions defeated Penn 6-1. In the second match, they knocked off Lehigh 7-0. Penn State swept the doubles portion against Penn and won five singles matches. Penn State also swept the doubles matches against Lehigh and won all six singles matches.
The Nittany Lions had a dominating performance in doubles against Penn. Penn State shook up the doubles lineups for this weekend and it paid off in the results. Russell Bader(Austin, Texas) and Guanhua Chen(DaLian, China) combined to win 8-2 against Penn's Nikola Kocovic and Jeremy Court. C.J. Griffin(Portland, Mich.) paired up with Bryan Welnetz(Laredo, Texas) to defeat Austin Kaplan and Ismael Lahlou 8-1. In the third match, Roman Trkulja(Toronto, Canada) and Tomas Hanzlik(Prague, Czech Republic) knocked off Vim De Alwis and Sylvester Wee 8-3. Penn State also swept five of six singles matches against the Quakers.
"I feel Penn is a good Ivy League team." Said Coach Jeff Zinn. " We played really well in doubles and that's what we've been focusing on the past week. When we can win our doubles point, that will really help in our success this season."
Senior Bryan Welnetz defeated Penn's Nikola Kocovic 6-4, 6-4 to earn his fifth win of the spring. Tomas Hanzlik earned a 6-4, 6-4 sweep out of the third spot in the lineup against Penn's Ismael Lahlou. Hanzlik picked up his second sweep of the day against Lehigh's Mark Goldberg, 6-0, 6-2.
Chris Young(Melbourne, Australia) won his fourth straight match as he defeated Penn's Vim De Alwis 6-4, 6-4. Against Lehigh's Ben Gilman, Young dropped his first set, but came back to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.
Freshman Matt Barry(Lido Beach, N.Y.) won his third straight decision 7-5, 6-1 over Penn's Austin Kaplan. In the first set, Barry came back from a 2-5 deficit.
Junior Russell Bader earned a 6-0, 6-2 sweep against Penn's Blaine Willenborg. He then followed that up with another dominating 6-0, 6-2 sweep over Lehigh's Mitchell Petersen.
Roman Trkulja dropped his match 1-6, 5-7 against Penn's Jeremy Court. He bounced back with a 6-0, 6-1 win against Lehigh's Matt Savran.
Penn State also won the doubles point against Lehigh. Bader and Chen claimed an 8-1 victory against Mark Goldberg and Mitchell Petersen. Griffin and Welnetz earned an 8-4 win over Matt Savran and Jeremy Kochman. The third pair, Hanzlik and Trkulja won a tough 7-6(2) tiebreaker against Ben Gilman and Andrew Krentz.
David Kohan(Sydney, Australia) picked up his first win of the spring with a 6-1, 6-1 sweep against Lehigh's Andrew Krentz. Ramy Labna(Doha, Qatar) also earned his first win of the spring, sweeping Lehigh's Timur Cherynkh 6-2, 6-4.
Next weekend, the Nittany Lions travel to Blacksburg, Va. to face a tough Virginia Tech team on Sunday at noon. The Hokies are ranked 46th in the current ITA Poll.
"Virginia Tech is a big match for us next weekend." Said Coach Zinn. "When you play a team from a top conference like the ACC, you need to play well, especially at their place. We know what we need to do to be successful."
Penn State vs. Penn
Doubles:
1. Bader/Chen(PSU) def. Kocovic/Court(Penn), 8-2.
2. Griffin/Welnetz(PSU) def. Kaplan/Lahlou(Penn), 8-1
3. Hanzlik/Trkulja(PSU) def. De Alwis/Wee(Penn), 8-3
Order of Finish: 3,1,2
Singles:
1. Bryan Welnetz(PSU) def. Nikola Kocovic(Penn), 6-4, 6-4
2. Jeremy Court(Penn) def. Roman Trkulja(PSU), 6-1, 7-5
3. Tomas Hanzlik(PSU) def. Ismael Lahlou(Penn), 6-4, 6-4
4. Russell Bader(PSU) def. Blaine Willenborg(Penn), 6-0, 6-2
5. Chris Young(PSU) def. Vim De Alwis(Penn), 6-4, 6-4
6. Matt Barry(PSU) def. Austin Kaplan(Penn), 7-5, 6-1
Order of Finish: 4,1,2,3,5,6
Penn State vs. Lehigh
Doubles:
1. Bader/Chen(PSU) def. Goldberg/Petersen(Lehigh), 8-1
2. Griffin/Welnetz(PSU) def. Savran/Kochman(Lehigh), 8-4
3. Hanzlik/Trkulja(PSU) def. Gilman/Krentz(Lehigh), 7-6(2)
Order of Finish: 1,2,3
Singles:
1. Tomas Hanzlik(PSU) def. Mark Goldberg(Lehigh), 6-0, 6-2
2. Chris Young(PSU) def. Ben Gilman(Lehigh), 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
3. Russell Bader(PSU) def. Mitchell Petersen(Lehigh), 6-0, 6-2
4. Roman Trkulja(PSU) def. Matt Savran(Lehigh), 6-0, 6-1
5. David Kohan(PSU) def. Andrew Krentz(Lehigh), 6-1, 6-1
6. Ramy Labna(PSU) def. Timur Chernykh(Lehigh), 6-2, 6-4
Order of Finish:4,3,1,2,5,6