March 31, 2013
LINCOLN, Neb. - The Penn State men's tennis team dropped a tough 4-3 battle against #57 Nebraska on Sunday. Penn State picked up three singles wins, but were not able to get the fourth win to clinch the match. Each of Penn State's four losses in singles went three sets. Nebraska won the doubles point. Penn State dropped to 7-11 this spring and 1-4 in the Big Ten. Nebraska is now 9-8 this season and 1-3 in the Big Ten.
The 4-3 loss was Penn State's fifth by that score against ranked opponents. Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic) got his second start of the year in the number one singles spot and responded with a strong 6-2, 7-5 win over Andre Stenger to get Penn State's first point of the day.
Junior Russell Bader (Austin, Texas) won his fifth-straight match, sweeping Marc Herrmann 7-6(7-5), 6-1. It is also Bader's 13th win of the spring.
Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.) also earned a sweep for the Nittany Lions, winning 6-3, 6-3 against Eric Sock. That is Barry's tenth win this spring and 22nd this year. He is now five wins from tying for sixth place all-time on the single season wins list at Penn State.
Senior Bryan Welnetz (Laredo, Texas) competed in the number two spot against Dusty Boyer. In the first set, Boyer came away with a 6-4 advantage. Welnetz responded with a 6-4 win of his own in the second set. In a tough 7-5 set, Boyer emerged with the win to clinch the match for Nebraska.
Freshman Roman Trkulja (Toronto, Canada) won his first set 6-1 against Tom Blackwell, but Blackwell was able to pick up the second set, 6-2. Blackwell then claimed the third set 6-4.
C.J. Griffin (Portland, Mich.) got his first Big Ten start in the sixth spot, matching up against Sebastian Florczyk. Griffin won the first set 7-6(8-6), but Florczyk took the second set 6-3. Florczyk was too much in the third set, winning 6-1.
Guanhua Chen (DaLian, China) and Chris Young (Melbourne, Australia) competed in the number one doubles spot, but dropped an 8-5 match against Andre Stenger and Eric Sock.
Bader and Barry started in the second doubles spot, but fell 8-4 against Bradford Zitsch and Boyer. The win clinched the doubles point for Nebraska.
The third doubles matchup went unfinished, but Trkulja and Welnetz were trailing 7-5 when the match was stopped.
Penn State will return to Happy Valley next weekend for two more Big Ten matches. The Nittany Lions will take on #47 Minnesota at 3:00 p.m. ET on Friday and #70 Wisconsin at 11:00 a.m. ET on Sunday.
Doubles:
1. Stenger/Sock(Neb) def. Chen/Young(PSU), 8-5
2. Zitsch/Boyer(Neb) def. Bader/Barry(PSU), 8-4
3. Elsass/Videtich(Neb) vs. Trkulja/Welnetz(PSU), 7-5, unfinished
Singles:
1. Tomas Hanzlik(PSU) def. Andre Stenger(Neb), 6-2, 7-5
2. Dusty Boyer(Neb) def. Bryan Welnetz(PSU), 6-4, 4-6, 7-5
3. Russell Bader(PSU) def. Marc Herrmann(Neb), 7-6(7-5), 6-1
4. Tom Blackwell(Neb) def. Roman Trkulja(PSU), 1-6, 6-2, 6-4
5. Matt Barry(PSU) def. Eric Sock(Neb), 6-3, 6-3
6. Sebastian Florczyk(Neb) def. C.J. Griffin(PSU), 6-7(6-8), 6-3, 6-1
Order of Finish: 1,3,4,5,6,2