Nov. 21, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's tennis team wrapped up their fall schedule on November 9. The Nittany Lions traveled to five tournaments this fall, including the Penn Invitational, ITA All-American Championships, ITA Atlantic Regional, USTA Collegiate Clay Court Invitational and the William & Mary Invitational. Penn State totaled 40 singles wins and 18 doubles wins.
"I wish we had won more matches this fall, but every coach wishes that," said Head Coach Jeff Zinn. "It's never enough and now that we have a `bull's eye' on our chest, it is going to get tougher and tougher. The players know that and they know they need to work harder in the offseason to live up to the expectations laid out by last year's team."
"We have instilled a `never give up' attitude and most of our players exhibited that this fall. Some are still working on that and hopefully by spring, we will have that spirit in the entire team."
Sophomore Nika Dolidze (Tbilisi, Georgia), senior Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic) and junior Roman Trkulja (Toronto, Canada) tied for the team lead with six singles wins each.
Dolidze had a strong start to the fall, going 3-1 at the Penn Invite, with wins over players from Cornell, Penn and St. Joseph's. Hanzlik earned two wins at the ITA Atlantic Regional, advancing to the round of 16, and also had two victories each at the USTA Collegiate Clay Court Invitational and William & Mary Invitational.
Sophomore Aws Laaribi (Rye, N.Y.) saw his first action as a Nittany Lion this fall at the Penn Invite after transferring from Wake Forest. Laarbi picked up five wins this fall, including three at the William & Mary Invitational.
Junior Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.) collected four wins this fall, including two at the USTA Collegiate Clay Court Invitational. Sophomores Marc Collado Castells (Barcelona, Spain) and Alex Fennell (Bala Cynwyd, Pa.) also have four wins each. Collado Castells won two matches at the Penn Invitational, whole Fennell advanced to the round of 16 at the ITA Atlantic Regional.
Fennell's match against USC's Erik Johnson at the USTA Collegiate Clay Court Invitational was televised on ESPN3.
Senior Michael Reilly (Raleigh, N.C.) had three victories this fall, while sophomore Christian Lutschaunig (Richboro, Pa.) and junior Leonard Stakhovsky (Kiev, Ukraine) each had one. Stakhovsky, ranked 29th in the ITA Poll, knocked off Old Dominion's Carlos Lopez Villa, ranked 42nd, at the William & Mary Invitational.
Laaribi and Trkulja combined for five doubles wins this fall, tallying two at the Penn Invite and three at the ITA Atlantic Regional, advancing to the quarterfinals.
Reilly and Stakhovsky won four doubles matches in tournament play, with three coming at the ITA Atlantic Regional, where they reached the semifinal round.
Barry and Fennell paired up for three wins, while Dolidze and Lutschaunig had two doubles wins. Barry and Fennell reached the round of 16 in doubles at the ITA Atlantic Regional.
"For the most part we were very pleased with the results from the fall," said Assistant Coach Paul Tobin. "I feel that certain players could have gone deeper in some tournaments, but this will be a good motivator for them to get ready for season matches. They are certainly training hard and the results will show when we open up against Kentucky in January."
The Nittany Lions open up their spring schedule in Lexington,Ky. on January 23-24 as part of the ITA Kickoff Weekend. Penn State, ranked 24th in the final 2014 ITA Poll, will take on Kentucky, ranked 12th, on that Friday. The winner will face Vanderbilt, ranked 20th, or South Florida, ranked 23rd, on Saturday.
Please check back to GoPSUSports.com for 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.