April 23, 2013
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Penn State men's tennis team heads to Columbus this week for the Big Ten Tournament, hosted by Ohio State. The Nittany Lions will take on #53 Indiana in an opening round matchup on Thursday. The match will start at approximately 4:00 p.m. ET.
The eleventh seeded Nittany Lions enter the weekend 8-16 overall and 2-9 in the Big Ten. Indiana begins the weekend as the sixth seed after going 17-13 overall and 6-5 in conference play during the regular season.
Earlier this season, Indiana defeated Penn State 5-2 on March 22nd. The Hoosiers won the doubles point and got wins at the top three singles spots.
Last weekend, the Nittany Lions fell 7-0 on Friday against #26 Michigan and 5-2 on Sunday against #45 Michigan State.
The Hoosiers dropped a 6-1 match against #31 on Friday. They also lost 6-1 against #34 Northwestern and defeated Vincennes 7-0 on Sunday.
Russell Bader (Austin, Texas) leads Penn State with 16 dual wins this spring, including seven in Big Ten play. Bader defeated Michigan State's Drew Lied 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 on Sunday.
Freshman Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.) also earned a win on Sunday against Michigan State's Denis Bogatev 3-6, 7-6, 11-9. Barry improved to 12-8 this spring and 24-14 overall. Barry has four wins in conference play.
Sophomore Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic) is 13-11 this spring and 4-7 in the Big Ten. He has faced six ranked opponents this season.
Roman Trkulja (Toronto, Canada) eight wins in dual matches this year.
Isade Juneau, Josh MacTaggart, and Sam Monette each have 20 wins this spring for Indiana. They also each have seven Big Ten wins.
The Hoosiers also boast strong doubles play, led by Juneau and Monette, who are 19-2 this spring and 4-1 against ranked opponents. MacTaggart and Daniel Bednarczyk have a 17-6 mark, including 7-3 in the Big Ten. Chris Essick and Dimitrije Tasic have 15 doubles wins this spring.
Further information about the Big Ten tournament can be found at http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/m-tennis/spec-rel/bigten-champ-2013.html.
Live scoring for the match can be found at http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/livestats/m-tennis/xlive.htm.