March 27, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 23 Penn State men's tennis team welcomes two ranked opponents to Happy Valley this week as they face No. 10 Illinois on Friday at 3 p.m. and No. 28 Northwestern at Noon on Sunday. The Nittany Lions improved to 15-2 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten with two wins last weekend.
Penn State topped Michigan State, 4-3, last Friday at home before going on the road to knock off No. 44 Michigan, 5-2.
Leonard Stakhovsky (Kiev, Ukraine) and Russell Bader (Austin, Texas) each picked up two wins over the weekend. Stakhovsky, ranked 50th in the ITA Poll, clinched the match against Michigan with his 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 win against then-No. 112 Alex Petrone. It marked Stakhovsky's fourth win this spring over a ranked opponent.
For his efforts, Stakhovsky was named Co-Big Ten Player of the Week. It is his second time receiving the honor this spring.
Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.), Roman Trkulja (Toronto, Canada) and David Kohan (Sydney, Australia) each earned one win this weekend. Kohan's 5-7, 7-6(2), 6-3 win against the Spartans' Mac Roy clinched the win for Penn State.
The Nittany Lions continued a strong spring in doubles, collecting the doubles point in both matches. They have won the doubles point in 16 of their 17 matches this spring.
Bader and Stakhovsky, ranked 28th in the nation, paired up for two wins, including an 8-5 victory against Michigan's Alex Buzzi and Barrett Franks, ranked 24th in the ITA Poll.
Michael Reilly (Raleigh, N.C.) and Chris Young (Melbourne, Australia) remained undefeated, 9-0, with an 8-5 win against Michigan's Shaun Bernstein and Kevin Wong, the 52nd-best pair in the nation. After the win, Reilly and Young made their debut in the ITA Poll this week at No. 54.
Kohan and freshman Christian Lutschaunig (Richboro, Pa.) got a win against Michigan State and are now 11-3 this spring.
With the win against Michigan, the Nittany Lions now have five this spring against ranked opponents, the most since 2008 when Penn State beat eight ranked opponents. It was also Penn State's third win on the road against a ranked team tying a program record set in 2007.
The Illini enter the weekend with a mark of 13-5 overall and 3-0 in conference play. Last weekend, they knocked off No. 70 Indiana, 7-0, and Ball State, 4-0.
They have three representatives in the ITA Singles Poll, led by Jared Hiltzik, ranked 9th. Hiltzik is 6-3 this spring and 20-7 overall, but he has not competed since February 16 against Texas A&M. Farris Gosea is ranked 23rd with a 12-3 mark this spring and 25-8 overall. He has defeated six ranked opponents.
Tim Kopinski is also ranked, coming in at 42nd. Kopinski is 24-8 overall and 12-4 this spring. Blake Bazarnik has 12 wins this spring and has won seven-straight matches.
Kopinski and Ross Guignon are ranked 3rd in the ITA Doubles Poll. The pair is 10-2 this spring with seven-straight wins and four wins against ranked opponents.
Gosea and Alex Jesse are 4-0 this spring and come in at No. 59 in the rankings.
The Wildcats are 12-7 overall and 1-2 in the Big Ten. They were off last weekend.
Senior Raleigh Smith is ranked 37th in the ITA Poll and has a mark of 9-4 this spring. Freshman Sam Shropshire is 10-3 this spring, playing mostly at No. 2 singles, and is ranked 113th.
Mihir Kumar has 11 wins this spring, while Strong Kirchheimer has nine and Fedor Baev has eight.
Kumar and Smith combine on the 30th-best doubles team in the nation. They are 4-5 this spring, but have two wins against ranked opponents.
Live stats for both matches are available at http://www.gopsusports.com/livestats/c-tennis/xlive.htm.
Please check back to GoPSUSports.com throughout the weekend for more coverage of the Penn State men's tennis team. Updates are also available on our Facebook, Penn State Men's Tennis, and Twitter, @pennstateMTEN, pages.