Oct. 29, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's tennis team continues their fall schedule this week as four members of the team travel to Orlando, Fla. for the USTA Collegiate Clay Court Invitational presented by Visit Florida. The tournament begins on Thursday, Oct. 30 and runs through Sunday, Nov. 2. Matches will be played at the ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando, with the tournament hosted by Florida State. Select matches on Thursday will be televised by ESPN3 as well as Sunday's final matches.
Head Coach Jeff Zinn's Nittany Lions are back in action after a week off following their performance at the ITA Atlantic Regional.
Representing Penn State this weekend are junior Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.), sophomore Nika Dolidze (Tbilisi, Georgia), sophomore Alex Fennell (Bala Cynwyd, Pa.) and senior Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic).
Fennell's match at 11 a.m. on Thursday will be televised on ESPN3. The sophomore, who has three wins this fall, takes on USC's Eric Johnson, ranked No. 124 in the ITA Poll.
Dolidze is tied for the team lead with four singles wins, while Barry and Hanzlik each have two victories. Hanzlik advanced to the regional Round of 16 a couple weekends ago.
Barry and Fennell combined to reach the doubles Round of 16, finishing the weekend with two wins.
14 men's teams are competing in this weekend's invitational, including 11 that were ranked in the final ITA Poll in 2014. Among the 11 are the defending NCAA Champions, USC. Other ranked teams include Auburn, UCF, Clemson, Columbia, Florida, Florida State, Miami, Princeton and Virginia Tech. Georgia Tech, South Alabama and Stetson are also competing.
The tournament will include two singles draws and two doubles draws, beginning on Thursday, with the first round of each draw.
Coverage on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app will begin at 8 a.m. on Thursday and 9 a.m. on Sunday. Kevin Corke will host coverage both days, with Patrick McEnroe joining him on Sunday.
Fans can visit ESPN3.com or download the WatchESPN app and select their TV provider to view the tournament.
Tournament results will be tweeted out at the completion of each match at @2014_CCI. The tournament homepage can be found here: http://www.seminoles.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&SPSID=917069&SPID=157121&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=209717376&DB_OEM_ID=32900.
Please check back to GoPSUSports.com throughout the weekend for coverage of the USTA Collegiate Clay Court Invitational. Updates can also be found on our Facebook, Penn State Men's Tennis, and Twitter, @pennstateMTEN, pages.