April 11, 2014
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The No. 16 Penn State men's tennis team dropped a 6-1 match at No. 36 Purdue on Friday at the Schwartz Tennis Center. The Boilermakers won the doubles point and five singles matches. The Nittany Lions are now 19-3 overall and 6-2 in the Big Ten. Purdue improved to 15-3 overall and 7-1 in conference play.
The loss snapped an eight-match win streak for Penn State dating back to March 13 against UCF.
Penn State dropped the doubles point for only the third time this season.
Senior Russell Bader (Austin, Texas) and sophomore Leonard Stakhovsky (Kiev, Ukraine), ranked 30th in the nation, matched up against another ranked opponent, Purdue's 74th ranked pair, Ricky Medinilla and Szymon Tatarczyk. The Penn State duo took an early 3-1 lead, but Medinilla and Tatarczyk rallied back for an 8-5 win. Bader and Stakhovsky fell to 13-5 this spring.
At the No. 2 doubles spot, Michael Reilly (Raleigh, N.C.) and Chris Young (Melbourne, Australia), ranked 54th in the ITA Poll, competed against Diego Acosta and Aaron Dujovne. The Nittany Lions pair led 4-2, but again Purdue rallied back for an 8-6 win to clinch the doubles point. Reilly and Young broke a 12-match win streak to begin the spring.
Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.) and Roman Trkulja met Purdue's Mark Kovacs and Mateus Silva at the No. 3 doubles spot. Barry and Trkulja were leading 7-6 when the match was stopped.
"I think today, the doubles point was very critical," said Head Coach Jeff Zinn. "Again, we were outside today. We haven't played a lot outside but I thought we were more prepared for it than we were. We didn't play at No. 1 or No. 2 doubles, we had leads and let them slip away. I think our doubles let us down today, that doesn't happen very often, but we really needed that point today."
Stakhovsky, ranked 33rd in the ITA Singles Poll, took on Tatarczyk at the top singles spot. Stakhovsky won the first set 6-1. In the second set, Stakhovsky led 4-2, but Tatarczyk rallied back to take a 5-4 lead. Stakhovsky and Tatarczyk traded the next four games to force a tiebreaker at 6-6. In the tiebreaker, Stakhovsky won 7-5, to take the match. Stakhovsky improved to 16-4 this spring.
In the No. 2 singles match, Bader faced the Boilermakers' Medinilla. The Austin, Texas native took the first set, 7-5, but Medinilla answered with a 6-3 win in the second set. In the deciding set, Medinilla won 6-2 to clinch the match point for Purdue. Bader fell to 17-5 this spring.
At No. 3 singles, freshman Alex Fennell (Bala Cynwyd, Pa.) met Kovacs. In the first set, Fennell won 6-4, but in a tight second set, Kovacs came out on top, 7-6(4). In the third set, Kovacs won 6-1. Fennell dropped to 13-8 in dual matches.
Barry took on Purdue's Aaron Dujovne at No. 4 singles. Dujovne took the first set, 6-3, but Barry responded with a 6-3 win of his own in the second set. In the final set, Dujovne jumped out to an early lead and won 6-0. Barry snapped a five-match win streak and is now 14-3 this spring.
Trkulja, a sophomore, met Purdue's Diego Acosta at the fifth singles position. Acosta came out on top, 7-5, in a back-and-forth first set. Trkulja took an early 2-1 lead in the second set, but the two traded points, with Acosta winning the set 7-5. Trkulja dropped to 11-10 in dual matches.
Sophomore David Kohan (Sydney, Australia) competed against the Boilermakers' Silva at the No. 6 singles spot. Silva earned a 6-0, 6-1 win. Kohan dropped to 3-2 this spring.
"It was a disappointing loss, but Purdue stepped up and played well today," said Assistant Coach Paul Tobin. "We knew if we didn't get the doubles point that it was going to be very difficult to win four singles matches. Not sure if playing outdoors effected anything but Purdue has not played outside much either. Hopefully we can bounce back on Sunday against Indiana."
The Nittany Lions travel to No. 69 Indiana on Sunday for a Noon match.
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.
Doubles:
1. #74 Medinilla/Tatarczyk(PUR) def. #30 Bader/Stakhovsky(PSU), 8-5.
2. Acosta/Dujovne(PUR) def. #54 Reilly/Young(PSU), 8-6.
3. Barry/Trkulja(PSU) vs. Kovacs/Silva(PUR), 7-6, unfinished.
Order of Finish: 1,2
Singles:
1. #33 Leo Stakhovsky(PSU) def. Szymon Tatarczyk(PUR), 6-1, 7-6(5).
2. Ricky Medinilla(PUR) def. Russell Bader(PSU), 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.
3. Mark Kovacs(PUR) def. Alex Fennell(PSU), 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-1.
4. Aaron Dujovne(PUR) def. Matt Barry(PSU), 3-6, 6-3, 6-0.
5. Diego Acosta(PUR) def. Roman Trkulja(PSU), 7-5, 7-5.
6. Mateus Silva(PUR) def. David Kohan(PSU), 6-0, 6-1.
Order of Finish: 6,1,5,2,4,3