Feb. 11, 2015
Match Notes
PSU-USC Live Stats
ITA NI Live Video
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 22 Penn State men's tennis team will face No. 1 USC at 4:30 p.m. on Friday in the first round of the ITA Men's Team Indoor National Championships. The bracket, released Wednesday by the ITA, has the Nittany Lions as the 16th seed, meeting the top-seeded Trojans. The tournament begins on Friday, Feb. 13 and continues through the championship match on Monday. The national championships, which feature the top 16 teams in the nation, are hosted by the University of Illinois at the Midtown Athletic Club in Chicago, Ill.
The Nittany Lions, led by Head Coach Jeff Zinn and Assistant Coach Paul Tobin, are 3-2 heading into this weekend. They qualified for National Indoors with wins over No. 19 Kentucky and No. 20 South Florida during ITA Kickoff Weekend in Lexington, Ky.
It marks the second time in program history that Penn State has qualified for National Indoors, they went in 2008, and the first time under the new format in which teams have to advance out of ITA Kickoff Weekend.
Penn State will meet the No. 1 team in the nation for the second consecutive season and fourth time ever. The Nittany Lions played at No. 1 Ohio State on March 2, 2014. It is also the fourth time in program history that Penn State will play the defending NCAA Champion. They played against the 2013 champion, Virginia, in the second round of last year's NCAA Tournament. It will be the first time in program history that Penn State plays USC.
"We are extremely excited to represent Penn State at the National Indoor Championships," said Zinn. "We know it's a big honor to be here and we want to play well in the national spotlight. Last year, we played the defending national champions at the NCAA Outdoor Championships and hopefully we can use that experience to build on this year against USC."
"As a staff, you want the players to enjoy the moment, because it is something they will always remember. You want them to compete hard and, win or lose, represent the blue and white the best they are capable of."
Junior Leonard Stakhovsky (Kiev, Ukraine) leads the Nittany Lions, playing at the top spot in the lineup. Stakhovsky, ranked 81st in the ITA Poll, has two wins over ranked opponents this season.
Junior Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.) is 4-0 this spring in singles and has combined with sophomore Alex Fennell (Bala Cynwyd, Pa.) for a 4-1 mark in doubles.
The Trojans are 6-0 this spring. They defeated No. 73 Louisiana-Lafayette and No. 57 Santa Clara during ITA Kickoff Weekend. The Trojans also have wins against No. 17 Florida and No. 7 Georgia.
Four USC players are represented in the Top 50 of the ITA Singles Poll, including senior Yannick Hanfmann, ranked 7th. Hanfmann and senior Roberto Quiroz are ranked 1st in the ITA Doubles Poll.
The ITA Men's Team Indoor Championships are open to the public. Single day tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students. The championships also offer all-day passes, $25 for adults and $15 for students. More information can be found on the Midtown Athletic Club website at www.midtown.com/chicago.
Live-stream video for the tournament will be available on ITATennis.com and the Midtown Athletic Club website.
"What an opportunity to play a team with the tradition of USC, they have won the NCAA Championship four of the last five years," said Tobin. "Despite their status, we're going in with the mindset that we can win. There's a reason why we made it to the National Indoors and we believe that we can go deep in the tournament. Everyone's going to have to play their best tennis. One advantage we have is that USC doesn't have too much experience playing indoors. I think we have a great chance of competing with the top team in the country."
Please check back to GoPSUsports.com 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.