April 18, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 22 Penn State men's tennis team earned their 20th win of the season on Friday as they shut out No. 63 Nebraska, 7-0. The Nittany Lions swept both the doubles and dropped only two sets in singles. Penn State is now 20-4 overall and 7-3 in the Big Ten. The Huskers dropped to 12-13 overall and 3-7 in conference play.
The Nittany Lions set a new school-record with their 20th win, topping the previous high of 19 victories by the 1984 team.
Penn State also set a new program high with seven Big Ten wins. They bettered the previous high of six by the 2007 and 2008 teams.
They also extended their new program high for wins against ranked opponents with their 10th of the season. Penn State also improved to 14-0 at home.
Penn State won the doubles point for the 21st time in 24 matches. It marks the fifth time this spring that they have swept the doubles matches.
"It's nice to get that 20th win for the season and lock up at least a number four seed in the Big Ten Tournament.," said Head Coach Jeff Zinn. "We could move up depending on what happens in front of us. We bounced back after a tough weekend last weekend and we played some of our best tennis of the year today."
"I think we've accomplished a lot this year and one of the goals that we didn't really talk about until near the end of the season was trying to get 20 wins. Very rarely does a team get 20 wins in a season. That's an accomplishment for this group. We've exceeded most of our goals, but still have a few left."
At the top doubles spot, senior Russell Bader (Austin, Texas) and sophomore Leonard Stakhovsky (Kiev, Ukraine), ranked 36th in the ITA Poll, matched up against Brandon Videtich and Bradford Zitsch. The Nittany Lion duo held leads of 4-1 and 5-2, but the Huskers came back to force a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, Bader and Stakhovsky came out on top, 7-3, for an 8-7(3) win. They improved to 15-5 this spring.
Bader is now tied for second place all-time at Penn State with 78 career doubles wins. He is tied with Michael James(2004-08).
Junior Michael Reilly (Raleigh, N.C.) and senior Chris Young (Melbourne, Australia) bounced back from an 0-2 performance last weekend with a dominant 8-1 victory at No. 2 doubles over Nebraska's Dusty Boyer and Marc Herrmann. The Penn State pair moved to 13-2 in dual matches.
Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.) and Roman Trkulja (Toronto, Canada) completed the doubles sweep for Penn State with their 8-5 win against the Huskers' Tom Blackwell and Scott Elsass at No. 3 doubles. Since being inserted into the lineup, Barry and Trkulja have won four straight matches.
At No. 1 singles, Stakhovsky, ranked 33rd in the nation, met Nebraska's 111th-ranked Dusty Boyer. The sophomore won a quick first set, 6-0, and followed that up with a 6-4 win in the second set. Stakhovsky improved to 17-4 this spring and won his seventh match against a ranked opponent.
In the match at No. 2 singles, Bader took on the Huskers' Marc Herrmann. The first set was tied at 3-3 before Bader broke it open for a 6-3 win. In the second set, Bader gained a 3-1 lead en route to another 6-3 set win. He moved to 18-6 this spring and 25-10 overall.
With the win, Bader picked up career victory number 92 to tie Mark Barry (2002-06) for fourth place all-time at Penn State.
Freshman Alex Fennell (Bala Cynwyd, Pa.) earned a straight-set win, 6-2, 6-3, against Tim Blackwell at No. 3 singles. Fennell improved to 14-9 this spring and 18-12 overall.
Barry competed at the fourth singles spot against the Huskers' Andrew Dzulynsky. In the first set, Barry rallied down from 4-0 to take a 5-4 lead. However, Dzulynsky came back to win the set, 7-5. Barry took the second set, 6-2. In the deciding super tiebreaker set, Barry won 10-5. He is now 15-4 this spring and has 24 wins overall.
At the fifth singles position, Trkulja matched up against Nebraska's Vasileios Stavropoulos. The sophomore won the first set, 6-1, and completed the straight set victory with a 6-2 second set. Trkulja improved to 13-10 this spring and 21-14 overall.
Nika Dolidze (Tbilisi, Georgia) got his first career Big Ten start, getting the nod at the No. 6 singles spot against the Huskers' Beauregard Treyz. The freshman took the first set, 6-0, but Treyz came out on top, 7-6(6), in a tough second set. In the super tiebreaker set, Dolidze won 10-4. Dolidze is 2-0 this spring and 12-7 overall.
"It was great to see us bounce back against a good Nebraska team," said Assistant Coach Paul Tobin. "I think we played very well across the board. Doubles came up with three wins and we won most of our singles in two sets. Now we need to focus on closing out the season on Sunday against Iowa. It will be a big day for our seniors."
The Nittany Lions take on the Hawkeyes starting at Noon on Sunday at Sarni Tennis Center. Seniors Bader, Ramy Labna (Doha, Qatar) and Young will be honored in a ceremony taking place between the doubles and singles matches.
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. #36 Bader/Stakhovsky(PSU) def. Videtich/Zitsch(Neb), 8-7(3).
2. Reilly/Young(PSU) def. Boyer/Herrmann(Neb), 8-1.
3. Barry/Trkulja(PSU) def. Blackwell/Elsass(Neb), 8-5.
Order of Finish: 2,1,3
Singles:
1. #33 Leo Stakhovsky(PSU) def. #111 Dusty Boyer(Neb), 6-0, 6-4.
2. Russell Bader(PSU) def. Marc Herrmann(Neb), 6-3, 6-3.
3. Alex Fennell(PSU) vs. Tom Blackwell(Neb), 6-2, 6-3.
4. Matt Barry(PSU) vs. Andrew Dzulynsky(Neb), 5-7, 6-2, 1-0(10-5).
5. Roman Trkulja(PSU) vs. Vasileios Stavropoulos(Neb), 6-1, 6-2.
6. Nika Dolidze(PSU) vs. Beauregard Treyz(Neb), 6-0, 6-7(6), 1-0(10-4).
Order of Finish: 1,5,2,3,6,4