April 21, 2013
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Penn State men's tennis team dropped their regular season finale, 5-2, on Sunday against #45 Michigan State. The Nittany Lions were not able to pick up the doubles point, but got singles wins from Russell Bader and Matt Barry. Penn State is now 8-16 this spring and 2-9 in the Big Ten. Michigan State improved to 13-12 overall and 6-5 in conference play.
Penn State will now head to the Big Ten Tournament, hosted by Ohio State. The Nittany Lions, the 11th-seed, will take on #53 Indiana, the sixth seed in the opening round on Thursday.
Russell Bader (Austin, Texas) earned his 16th win of the spring as he defeated Drew Lied in the number two singles matchup. After dropping the first set 4-6, the junior responded by winning the last two sets 6-4, 6-2.
Freshman Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.) came out on top in a tough battle against Denis Bogatev. After falling 3-6 in the first set, Barry came back with a 7-6 win. In the tiebreaker third set, Barry fought to an 11-9 win. With the win, Barry improved to 12-8 this spring and picked up his 24th win overall.
Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic) started at number one singles for the fourth time this spring. He took on Aaron Pfister, but fell 6-1, 7-6.
Roman Trkulja (Toronto, Canada) faced John Patrick Mullane in the fourth singles matchup. Mullane won the first set 6-4, but Trkulja responded with his own 6-4 win in the second set. Mullane battled for a 7-5 victory in the third set.
Senior C.J. Griffin (Portland, Mich.) faced off against Gijs Linders in the fifth singles spot. Linders came out on top 6-2, 6-4. Chris Young (Melbourne, Australia) got the start in the sixth spot against Harry Jadun. Young dropped a 6-3, 7-5 result.
Michigan State won the doubles point to get a 1-0 start. Linders and Jadun combined at number one doubles for the Spartans and knocked off Trkulja and Young 8-2.
Clinching the doubles point for Michigan State was the pair of Mullane and Lied who claimed an 8-6 victory over Bader and Barry.
Guanhua Chen (DaLian, China) and Hanzlik competed in the third doubles match against Bogatev and Pfister. Chen and Hanzlik were trailing 6-4 when the doubles point was clinched and the match went unfinished.
Doubles:
1. Linders/Jadun(MSU) def. Trkulja/Young(PSU), 8-2
2. Mullane/Lied(MSU) def. Bader/Barry(PSU), 8-6
3. Bogatev/Pfister(MSU) vs. Chen/Hanzlik(PSU), 6-4, unfinished
Order of Finish: 1,2
Singles:
1. Aaron Pfister(MSU) def. Tomas Hanzlik(PSU), 6-1, 7-6
2. Russell Bader(PSU) def. Drew Lied(MSU), 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
3. Matt Barry(PSU) def. Denis Bogatev(MSU), 3-6, 7-6, 11-9
4. John Patrick Mullane(MSU) def. Roman Trkulja(PSU), 6-4, 4-6, 7-5
5. Gijs Linders(MSU) def. C.J. Griffin(PSU), 6-2, 6-4
6. Harry Jadun(MSU) def. Chris Young(PSU), 6-3, 7-5
Order of Finish: 6,5,1,3,2,4