Sept. 30, 2014
TULSA, Okla. - The Penn State men's tennis team continued play at the ITA All-American Championships on Tuesday in Tulsa, Okla. Sophomore Alex Fennell (Bala Cynwyd, Pa.) and junior Leonard Stakhovsky (Kiev, Ukraine) competed in the Qualifying Doubles Draw.
The Penn State duo, ranked 43rd in the preseason ITA Doubles Poll, matched up against San Diego State's Frederich Gelbrich and Hendrik Jebens in the first round.
In the opening set, the Nittany Lion duo held leads of 4-3 and 5-4, but the Aztecs tied it up at 6-6 to force a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, San Diego State came out on top, 7-4.
The Aztec pair took the opening game of the second set, but the Nittany Lions worked back to a 4-4 tie. However, San Diego State took three of the next four games to close out a 7-5 set win.
Stakhovsky will begin singles play on Thursday in the Main Draw. The junior is ranked 29th in the preseason ITA Poll.
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ITA All-American Championships
Pre-Qualifying Draw:
1st Round) Matt Cowley(Utah) def. Matt Barry(PSU), 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.
2nd Round) Alex Fennell(PSU) def. Kenny Sabacinski(ND), 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.
Miroslav Herzan(Wich) def. Tomas Hanzlik(PSU), 4-6, 7-6(8), 6-4.
3rd Round) Thomas Weigel(NCST) def. Alex Fennell(PSU), 6-4, 4-6, 7-5.
Bonus Match) Matt Barry(PSU) def. Alberto Reyes(UO), 6-3, 6-2.
Dima Zyhmantovich(MTSU) def. Tomas Hanzlik(PSU), 6-0, 6-2.
Qualifying Doubles Draw:
1st Round) Gelbrich/Jebens(SDSU) def. #43 Fennell/Stakhovsky(PSU), 7-6(4), 7-5.