Oct. 18, 2014
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The Penn State men's tennis team continued play at the ITA Atlantic Regional in Charlottesville, Va. The five-day tournament is being hosted by the University of Virginia at the Snyder Tennis Center. Penn State remained strong in doubles as two teams advanced to Sunday's Quarterfinal Round. The Nittany Lions also had two players advance to the singles draw Round of 16.
On Sunday, the doubles Quarterfinal Round begins at 10:30 a.m. with the singles Round of 16 following.
Riding a four-match win streak to start the fall, sophomore Aws Laaribi (Rye, N.Y.) and junior Roman Trkulja (Toronto, Canada) took on the top seed in the draw, Virginia Tech's Andreas Bjerrehus and Amerigo Contini, ranked 17th in the ITA Poll. In the Round of 16 battle, the Nittany Lion pair earned an 8-6 victory. They advanced to the quarterfinal round, where they will face Virginia's Luca Corinteli and Ryan Shane.
In another Round of 16 match, senior Michael Reilly (Raleigh, N.C.) and junior Leonard Stakhovsky (Kiev, Ukraine) competed against George Washington's Cahit Kapukrian and Danil Zelenkov. The Penn State duo picked up an 8-4 victory to improve to 3-0 on the weekend. On Sunday, they meet Virginia Tech's Florian Nicoud and Aaron Gomez.
Penn State's third doubles pair in the Round of 16, junior Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.) and sophomore Alex Fennell (Bala Cynwyd, Pa.) matched up against Corinetli and Shane. The blue and white pair dropped an 8-3 decision.
In his first singles match of the day, in the Round of 64, Fennell earned a straight-set win, 6-0, 6-1, against UMBC's Alex Drean. Following that match, Fennell picked up a 6-3, 7-6(5) victory over George Washington's Julius Tverijonas. On Sunday, Fennell matches up against Contini, the top seed in the singles draw and ranked 14th in the ITA Poll.
Senior Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic) knocked off Georgetown's Marco Lam, 6-3, 6-1, in the Round of 64. Hanzlik continued his momentum with a tough, three-set victory over George Washington's Kapukrian. After dropping the first set, 7-6(4), Hanzlik bounced back by winning the next two sets, 6-4. In the Round of 16, Hanzlik will face Old Dominion's Carlos Lopez Villa, the No. 4 overall seed in the bracket and ranked 42nd in the ITA Poll.
Barry met Duquesne's Corey Robinson in the Round of 64. The junior claimed a 6-2, 6-3 victory to move onto the Round of 32. In that round, he took on Virginia's Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, the No. 7 seed and No. 80 in the nation, but fell 6-2, 6-1.
The Toronto native, Trkulja, earned a 6-4, 6-2 sweep over George Mason's Joe Hill in the Round of 64. He advanced to face the No. 2 overall seed, Virginia's Shane, ranked 28th in the nation, but dropped a 6-3, 6-1 decision.
After picking up a win on Friday, Reilly competed against Radford's Patrick O'Keefe, but fell 6-3, 6-4. Nika Dolidze (Tbilisi, Georgia) also competed in a Round of 64 match, but lost a tough, 6-4, 7-6(5), match to Virginia Tech's Nicoud.
Stakhovsky, ranked 29th in the ITA Poll, entered the weekend as the third overall seed in the singles draw but dropped a 6-3, 6-2 result against William & Mary's Christian Cargill.
In another Round of 64 match, Laaribi took on Richmond's Alex Hahn. The sophomore won the first set, 6-4, but Hahn responded by winning the next set, 6-2. In the deciding set, Hahn came out on top, 6-3.
Sophomore Marc Collado Castells (Barcelona, Spain) also competed on Saturday, facing Virginia Tech's Gomez. However, Gomez won a 7-6(0), 6-3 match.
In a consolation match, sophomore Christian Lutschaunig (Richboro, Pa.) knocked off George Mason's Aaron Capitel, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.
Please check back to GoPSUSports.com throughout the weekend for more coverage of the ITA Atlantic Regional. Updates are also available on our Facebook, Penn State Men's Tennis, and Twitter, @pennstateMTEN, pages.
ITA Atlantic Regional
Doubles:
Round of 64) Laaribi/Trkulja(PSU) def. Belkssir/Paulus(Tem), 8-6.
Barry/Fennell(PSU) def. Jover Maestre/Lopez Villa(ODU), 8-6.
Juggins/Niquet(W&M) def. Collado Castells/Hanzlik(PSU), 8-5.
Dolidze/Lutschaunig(PSU) def. Glavin/Podvinsky(ODU), 8-4.
Round of 32) Laaribi/Trkulja(PSU) def. Ruzic/Salinas(JMU), 8-5.
Barry/Fennell(PSU) def. Castellano/Johnson(LW), 8-1.
Reilly/Stakhovsky(PSU) def. Kane/Walshe(Duq), 8-6.
#34 Dias/Tverijonas(GW) def. Dolidze/Lutschaunig(PSU), 8-5.
Round of 16) Laaribi/Trkulja(PSU) def. #17 Bjerrehus/Contini(VT), 8-6.
Corinteli/Shane(UVA) def. Barry/Fennell(PSU), 8-3.
Reilly/Stakhovsky(PSU) def. Kapukrian/Zelenkov(GW), 8-4.
Singles:
Round of 128) Michael Reilly(PSU) def. Daniel Khanin(GTown), 7-6, 6-3.
Marc Collado Castells(PSU) def. Jacob Svensson(VCU), 7-5, 6-4.
Nika Dolidze(PSU) def. Lars de Boer(W&M), 6-1, 6-2.
Will Juggins(W&M) def. Christian Lutschaunig(PSU), 6-4, 6-3.
Round of 64) Alex Fennell(PSU) def. Alex Drean(UMBC), 6-0, 6-1.
Patrick O'Keefe(Radford) def. Michael Reilly(PSU), 6-3, 6-4.
Florian Nicoud(VT) def. Nika Dolidze(PSU), 6-4, 7-6(5).
Christian Cargill(W&M) def. #29 Leo Stakhovsky(PSU), 6-3, 6-2.
Alex Hahn(Rich) def. Aws Laaribi(PSU), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Aaron Gomez(VT) def. Marc Collado Castells(PSU), 7-6(0), 6-3.
Matt Barry(PSU) def. Corey Robinson(Duq), 6-2, 6-3.
Tomas Hanzlik(PSU) def. Marco Lam(GTown), 6-3, 6-1.
Roman Trkulja(PSU) def. Joe Hill(GMU), 6-4, 6-2.
Round of 32) Alex Fennell(PSU) def. Julius Tverijonas(GW), 6-3, 7-6(5).
#80 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski(UVA) def. Matt Barry(PSU), 6-2, 6-1.
Tomas Hanzlik(PSU) def. Cahit Kapukrian(GW), 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4.
#28 Ryan Shane(UVA) def. Roman Trkulja(PSU), 6-3, 6-1.
Consolation) Christian Lutschaunig(PSU) def. Aaron Capitel(GMU), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.