May 27, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's tennis team finished in the ITA Top 25 for the first time in program history, coming in at No. 24 in the final poll, released Tuesday. The Nittany Lions finished the year with a 22-6 record, went 8-3 in the Big Ten and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Penn State, led by Head Coach Jeff Zinn, was ranked in the Top 25 for the last seven weeks of the season after entering the Top 25 for the first time in program history on March 25. The Nittany Lions reached a high ranking of 16th on April 8.
The Nittany Lions were ranked in the ITA Top 75 for 14 straight weeks.
Penn State made the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in school history. They played in the Charlottesville Regional, where they defeated No. 50 UNC Wilmington, 4-2, in the first round. In the second round, they fell 4-1 to No. 4 Virginia, who went on to reach the Final Four.
The Nittany Lions set program records for overall wins with 22, Big Ten wins with eight and wins against ranked opponents with 11. They also went 15-0 at home.
Sophomore Leonard Stakhovsky (Kiev, Ukraine) qualified for the NCAA Single Tournament, while Stakhovsky and senior Russell Bader (Austin, Texas) were selected for the NCAA Doubles Tournament. Bader and Stakhovsky advanced to the second round of the doubles championships.
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