Feb. 7, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 58 Penn State men's tennis team(4-0) hosts doubleheaders on both Saturday and Sunday this week at the Indoor Tennis Center. The Nittany Lions face UMBC(2-2) at 11 a.m. and Bucknell(0-1) at 5 p.m. on Saturday. Penn State takes on Binghamton (1-2) at 11 a.m. and Lehigh(3-0) at 5 p.m.
Penn State made their debut in the ITA Poll this week. It was their first time in the poll since March 5-19, 2013. Penn State is one of 11 Big Ten schools in the rankings.
The Nittany Lions are coming off an impressive performance last weekend as they knocked off #33 Virginia Tech, 4-3, and Cleveland State, 6-1.
Penn State's win over Virginia Tech was their first win over a ranked opponent since January 26, 2013 against #59 New Mexico. It was also the highest ranked opponent defeated by Penn State since #30 Wisconsin on April 17, 2009.
With the win, Penn State is one of four Big Ten schools to defeat a Top 40 opponent so far in 2014.
Sophomore Leonard Stakhovsky (Kiev, Ukraine) set the tone with his 6-5(4), 6-0 win over Virginia Tech's Amerigo Contini, ranked 26th in the ITA Poll. Stakhovsky is one of three Big Ten players to defeat a Top 30 opponent this spring. Stakhovsky followed that up with a 6-0, 6-5 victory against Cleveland State's Jorg Van der Vloet to improve to 3-0.
Senior Russell Bader (Austin, Texas) also defeated a ranked opponent, topping Virginia Tech's Andreas Bjerrehus, ranked 60th. With his second win of the weekend, over Cleveland State's Matt Kuelker, Bader passed Jamie Gresh(1999-02) for 19th all-time on the Penn State wins list. Bader now has 78 wins, one shy of tying Brendan Lynch(2005-09) for ninth place. Bader also picked up a doubles win to move one win behind Mark Greisser(1995-99) for 10th all-time on the doubles wins list.
Penn State is one of three teams in the Big Ten to defeat two ranked singles opponents in the same match this year.
Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.) and Marc Collado Castells (Barcelona, Spain) also had singles wins against Virginia Tech. David Kohan (Sydney, Australia) and Christian Lutschaunig (Richboro, Pa.) combined for a doubles win.
Freshmen Alex Fennell (Bala Cynwyd, Pa.), Nika Dolidze (Tbilisi, Georgia) and Castells all picked up wins against Cleveland State.
UMBC enters the weekend with a 2-2 mark after splitting their two matches last weekend. They defeated Temple, 7-0, but fell, 4-3, to Old Dominion.
Sophomore Justin Carter is 2-2 playing at the top singles spot for the Retrievers. Carter and Melker Svard have teamed up to go 3-0 in doubles.
Bucknell is 0-1 this spring after dropping a 5-2 result at Saint Francis(Pa.) last weekend. Sophomore Nick Bybel leads the team with 13 wins. Scott Bernstein, a senior, is 9-2.
Binghamton went 1-2 in their opening weekend as they beat Bryant, 6-1, but fell, 4-3, against Xavier and, 7-0, against Brown. The Bearcats will take on Cleveland State on Friday before they match up with the Nittany Lions. Junior Robin Lesage leads the squad with 10 wins.
Lehigh enters the weekend with a 3-0 record with wins over Drexel, Monmouth and Saint Francis(Pa.). Ben Gilman is 1-2 in the top singles spot. Mark Goldberg and Mitchell Petersen have combined to go 2-0 in doubles.
Fans coming for the second match of the Saturday doubleheader should make sure to park in the lower portion of the Orange-F lot. Due to the men's hockey game, also at 5 p.m., fans will not be able to park in the upper part of Orange-F. Fans should tell the parking attendant that they are there for the men's tennis match.
Live stats for all matches will be available at http://www.gopsusports.com/livestats/c-tennis/xlive.htm.
Please check back to GoPSUSports.com for updates throughout the weekend. Fans can also follow the action on our Facebook, Penn State Men's Tennis, and Twitter, @pennstateMTEN, pages.