March 10, 2013
HOUSTON, Texas - The #72 Penn State men's tennis team won a tough 4-3 back-and-forth battle with Rice on Saturday in Houston. The Nittany Lions improved to 6-8 on the year and earned their first win as a ranked team this year. Rice won the doubles point, but Penn State battled back through the singles matches to claim the victory. The win finished off the non-conference schedule for Penn State.
"Rice is a good team, it was a good win for us on their home court," said Head Coach Jeff Zinn. "We played a lot of tough non-conference matches to get ready for conference play."
Russell Bader (Austin, Texas) and Guanhua Chen (DaLian, China) got the Nittany Lions off to a good start in doubles with an 8-1 win over Adam Gustafsson and Tommy Bennett.
Sophomore Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic) paired with Chris Young (Melbourne, Australia) for the first time this year, but dropped a tough battle 9-8(7-3) to Peter Frank and Philipp Seifert.
In the third doubles match, C.J. Griffin (Portland, Mich.) and Bryan Welnetz (Laredo, Texas) also took a tough 9-8(7-3) loss against Jonathan Chang and Leif Berger to clinch the doubles point for the Owls.
"We lost the doubles point and that's the first time we've won after losing the point," said Zinn. "The win gives us confidence going into the Big Ten."
Penn State and Rice then exchanged singles wins the rest of the way, with freshman Roman Trkulja (Toronto, Canada) clinching the match for the Nittany Lions with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over Frank.
Hanzlik got a win out of the number two spot against Gustafsson with a 6-4, 6-2 sweep. Bader earned a tough win in the three spot, defeating Seifert 6-4, 7-6(7-5).
Freshman Matt Barry got Penn State on the board with his eighth straight win. He knocked off Gustavo Gonzalez 6-1, 6-2.
Welnetz played a couple close sets against Jonathan Chang, but fell 7-5, 7-5. Young dropped a 6-2, 6-1 decision against Tommy Bennett.
"It was good for us to get outdoors this week, we haven't been able to get out yet this year," said Zinn.
Penn State is off next weekend, but returns to action on Friday, March 22 at home against #75 Indiana. The match starts at 2:00 p.m. ET.
Doubles:
1. Bader/Chen(PSU) def. Gustafsson/Bennett(Rice), 8-1
2. Frank/Seifert(Rice) def. Griffin/Welnetz(PSU), 9-8(7-3)
3. Chang/Berger(Rice) def. Hanzlik/Young(PSU), 9-8(7-3)
Order of Finish: 1,3,2
Singles:
1. Jonathan Chang(Rice) def. Bryan Welnetz(PSU), 7-5, 7-5
2. Tomas Hanzlik(PSU) def. Adam Gustafsson(Rice), 6-4, 6-2
3. Russell Bader(PSU) def. Philipp Seifert(Rice), 6-4, 7-6(7-5)
4. Tommy Bennett(Rice) def. Chris Young(PSU), 6-2, 6-1
5. Roman Trkulja(PSU) def. Peter Frank(Rice), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3
6. Matt Barry(PSU) def. Gustavo Gonzalez(Rice), 6-1, 6-2
Order of Finish: 6,4,2,3,1,5