Sept. 26, 2014
PHILADELPHIA- The Penn State men's tennis team started the fall season with a strong first day at the Penn Invitational. Playing a hidden dual format, the Nittany Lions defeated St. Joseph's and Cornell. Penn State takes on Princeton in Saturday's action. Fellow Nittany Lions will also begin play at the ITA All-American Championships.
In the hidden dual format, teams play a dual match format, but there is no overall team score. However, in both matches the teams counted each singles win as a point and each doubles win as a point.
In the matchup against St. Joseph's, Penn State did not drop a set. Penn State defeated Cornell in a tight second match. Cornell was ranked 58th in the final 2014 ITA Poll. Two players from the University of Pennsylvania were included on Penn State's team for the match against Cornell.
In a doubles match, senior Michael Reilly (Raleigh, N.C.) paired up with sophomore Christian Lutschaunig (Richboro, Pa.) against the Hawks' Tristan Boustany and Kevin Gates. The Penn State duo earned an 8-1 win.
Junior Roman Trkulja (Toronto, Canada) matched up against St. Joseph's Andres Urrea. In the first set, Trkulja won 6-2. He followed that up with a 6-0 win in the second set to earn a straight set victory. In the match against Cornell, Trkulja faced Colin Sinclair. Trkulja claimed the first set, 7-5, but Sinclair won the second set, 6-1. In the deciding set, Sinclair won 6-2.
Sophomore Marc Collado Castells (Barcelona, Spain) competed against the Hawks' Pierre Brondeau. Collado Castells battled to take the first set, 7-5. He continued his momentum with a 6-1 win in the next set to pick up the sweep. Castells carried his hot start into the second match against the Big Red's Dylan Brown. The Barcelona native claimed a 7-5, 6-1 straight set win.
Fellow sophomore Nika Dolidze (Tbilisi, Georgia) earned a straight set victory against St. Joseph's Renier Moolman. In a tough first set, Dolidze came out on top, 7-5. Dolidze had another tough battle in the second set, but earned a 7-6 win. The sophomore improved to 2-0 with a 6-2, 6-1 sweep against Cornell's Quoc-Daniel Nguyen in the second match.
In his Penn State debut, sophomore Aws Laaribi (Rye, N.Y.) took on the Hawks' Kyle Chambers. Laaribi picked up a 7-5 win in the first set and followed that up with a 6-1 victory in the second set. In his match against Cornell's Stefan Vinti, the sophomore won the first set, 6-4. Vinti responded with his own 6-4 set win. In the deciding set, Laaribi was leading 4-2, but had to retire due to injury.
In the match against Cornell, Lutschaunig and Reilly took on the Big Red's Kyle Berman and Sam Fleck. In a close set, the Penn State duo dropped an 8-6 match.
The Penn pair won a match, 8-4, to give the Nittany Lions a team point.
With the match score tied at 3-3, Lutschaunig and Reilly played a super tiebreaker set against Berman and Fleck to decide the match. The Nittany Lion pair finished out the match with an 11-5 set win.
"We're pretty happy after day one, following wins over St. Joseph's and Cornell," said Assistant Coach Paul Tobin. "The guys easily handled St. Joseph's before a tight match against Cornell. We won the first set in each match against Cornell, with Marc and Nika finishing out wins. Aws showed he is a great competitor, exhibiting toughness and battling through some tough moments. Up a set, Aws had to default due to injury. Reilly and Lutschaunig closed out the match with a win in the tiebreaker."
The Pre-Qualifying Singles Draws have been set for the ITA All-American Championships. Alex Fennell (Bala Cynwyd, Pa.) and Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic) earned first round byes. Junior Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.) matches up against Memphis' Andrew Watson.
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.
Penn State vs. St. Joseph's
Doubles:
1. Lutschaunig/Reilly(PSU) def. Boustany/Gates(StJ), 8-1.
Singles:
1. Nika Dolidze(PSU) def. Renier Moolman(StJ), 7-5, 7-6.
2. Marc Collado Castells(PSU) def. Pierre Brondeau(StJ), 7-5, 6-1.
3. Roman Trkulja(PSU) def. Andres Urrea(StJ), 6-2, 6-0.
4. Aws Laaribi(PSU) def. Kyle Chambers(StJ), 7-5, 6-1.
Penn State vs. Cornell
Doubles:
1. Berman/Fleck(Cornell) def. Lutschaunig/Reilly(PSU), 8-6.
3. Lutschaunig/Reilly(PSU) def. Berman/Flick(Cornell), 11-5.
Singles:
1. Stefan Vinti(Cornell) def. Aws Laaribi(PSU), 4-6, 6-4, 2-4, retire.
2. Colin Sinclair(Cornell) def. Roman Trkulja(PSU), 5-7, 6-1, 6-2.
3. Nika Dolidze(PSU) def. Quoc-Daniel Nguyen(Cornell), 6-2, 6-1.
4. Marc Collado Castells(PSU) def. Dylan Brown(Cornell), 7-5, 6-1.