Feb. 24, 2013
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - The Penn State men's tennis team defeated William & Mary 6-1 on Sunday. The Nittany Lions earned the doubles point and won five of six singles matches. Penn State only dropped three sets in singles. With the win, the Nittany Lions improved to 5-6 this spring.
"Today we came out a lot more focused, a lot more poised," said Head Coach Jeff Zinn. "We came out determined to play well in all facets of the match. I thought everyone played well today, even in the one singles loss."
Penn State earned the critical doubles point. Russell Bader (Austin, Texas) and Guanhua Chen (DaLian, China) competed in the number one doubles spot and defeated William & Mary's Aaron Chaffee and Anton Andersson 8-6. C.J. Griffin (Portland, Mich.) and Bryan Welnetz (Laredo, Texas) followed that up with an 8-1 victory over John Banks and Jamie Whiteford.
Freshmen Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.) and Roman Trkulja (Toronto, Canada) came close to completing a doubles sweep for the Nittany Lions, but fell 8-6 against Ben Hoogland and Adrian Vodislav.
Penn State earned wins in five of the six doubles matches, including four sweeps. In the number one spot, Bryan Welnetz knocked off Aaron Chaffee 6-3, 6-4 to improve to 6-3 this spring.
Russell Bader was moved up to the second spot in the lineup for the first time this season and responded by defeating Anton Andersson 3-6, 7-6, 10-5. Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic) swept Adrian Vodislav 6-0, 6-4.
Roman Trkulja claimed a 6-3, 6-3 sweep against John Banks. Matt Barry completed a 2-0 weekend by winning the first set 6-2 against Scott Huang and taking a 2-0 lead in the second set before Huang retired.
Junior Chris Young (Melbourne, Australia) dropped a tough 3 set battle against Ben Hoogland. Young won the first set 7-6, but Hoogland fought to win the second 6-4. In the third set, Hoogland won 10-6.
Penn State now turns their attention to their first conference match of the year against Big Ten foe Ohio State next Saturday, March 2nd in the Indoor Tennis Center. The Buckeyes are ranked 4th in the country with a 12-2 record.
"We have two more non-conference matches left, but we start our Big Ten schedule against Ohio State next weekend," said Coach Zinn. "It's great to start off the schedule with the best in the conference. The players are looking forward to the challenge."
Doubles:
1. Bader/Chen(PSU) def. Chaffee/Andersson(W&M), 8-6
2. Griffin/Welnetz(PSU) def. Banks/Whiteford(W&M), 8-1
3. Hoogland/Vodislav(W&M) def. Barry/Trkulja(PSU), 8-6
Order of Finish: 2,3,1
Singles:
1. Bryan Welnetz(PSU) def. Aaron Chaffee(W&M), 6-3, 6-4
2. Russell Bader(PSU) def. Anton Andersson(W&M), 3-6, 7-6, 10-5
3. Tomas Hanzlik(PSU) def. Adrian Vodislav(W&M), 6-0, 6-4
4. Ben Hoogland(W&M) def. Chris Young(PSU), 6-7, 6-4, 10-6
5. Roman Trkulja(PSU) def. John Banks(W&M), 6-3, 6-3
6. Matt Barry(PSU) def. Scott Huang(W&M), 6-2, 2-0, retire
Order of Finish: 6,3,5,1,2,4