Feb. 13, 2015
CHICAGO - The No. 22 Penn State men's tennis team fell 4-0 against No. 1 USC on Friday in their first round match at the ITA Men's Team Indoor National Championships, held in Chicago at the Midtown Athletic Center. The championships are being hosted by the University of Illinois. The Nittany Lions fought hard, especially in a tight doubles point, but the Trojans proved their ranking. Penn State dropped to 3-3 this spring. USC improved to 7-0. The blue and white will face No. 9 Texas at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday in a consolation match.
The Nittany Lions, led by Head Coach Jeff Zinn and Assistant Coach Paul Tobin, dropped a tightly-contested doubles point, despite leads during the No. 1 and No. 2 matches.
"I thought we played well in doubles, we competed at all three spots," said Zinn. "We didn't play as well in singles, we fought hard, but didn't win enough sets. That was my only disappointment today that we didn't win as many sets to meet our expectations against the top team in the nation. We will work to do better with that goal tomorrow against Texas."
Junior Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.) and sophomore Alex Fennell (Bala Cynwyd, Pa.) competed at No. 2 against USC's #38 Max de Vroome and Eric Johnson. The Penn State pair held leads of 2-1 and 3-2, but the Trojans came out on top, 6-4. Barry and Fennell are now 7-4 overall and 4-2 this spring.
At No. 3, senior Michael Reilly (Raleigh, N.C.) and junior Roman Trkulja (Toronto, Canada) combined against the Trojans' Nick Crystal and Connor Farren. In a back-and-forth match, Crystal and Farren won 6-4. Reilly and Trkulja dropped to 1-1 this spring.
Sophomore Aws Laaribi (Rye, N.Y.) and junior Leonard Stakhovsky (Kiev, Ukraine) matched up at No. 1 against USC's Yannick Hanfmann and Roberto Quiroz, ranked as the top team in the nation by the ITA Poll. The Trojans jumped out to a 2-1 lead, but Laaribi and Stakhovsky fought back to win the next to games to take a 3-2 advantage. The teams traded the next six points. The Nittany Lion duo led 6-5 when the match was stopped after USC clinched the doubles point.
Stakhovsky competed against Hanfmann at the top singles spot. Stakhovsky is ranked 81st in the ITA Poll, while Hanfmann is 7th. The USC senior jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first set on his way to a 6-1 set win. He then took a 2-1 lead in the second set, but Stakhovsky fought back to force a tiebreaker at 6-6. However, Hanfmann won the tiebreaker, 7-4, to clinch the match point for USC. Stakhovsky is now 1-4 this spring.
At the second singles position, Fennell took on Quiroz, ranked 24th. The sophomore held an early 2-1 advantage in the opening set, but Quiroz took five of the next six games to win the set. Quiroz continued his momentum in the next set, with an early 3-0 lead on his way to a 6-1 win. Fennell fell to 2-4 this spring.
Trkulja competed at the No. 4 spot in the lineup against Eric Johnson. The Toronto native won the opening point of the first set, but Johnson claimed the set, 6-1. The players traded the first four games of the second set, but Johnson won the set, 6-2. Trkulja is now 2-3 in dual matches this year.
After the match point was clinched the matches at No. 3, 5 and 6 were stopped.
At No. 3, Barry dropped the first set, 6-4, against Jonny Wang, ranked 20th, but was tied 3-3 in the second set when it was stopped.
In a tight opening set, Laaribi fell 7-5 at No. 5 against Max de Vroome. The sophomore worked to a 5-4 advantage but de Vroome took the next three games. Laaribi was trailing 5-1 in the next set when it was abandoned.
Senior Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic) got the start at the No. 6 spot against Nick Crystal, ranked 49th. Hanzlik dropped the first set, 6-2, and was down 5-3 in the second set when it was stopped.
"Tough match today against a very good USC team," said Tobin. "I think we held our town in doubles, Leo and Aws looked like they could have closed it out. Southern Cal pressed us hard in singles and kept the momentum going. Leo, Aws and Matt had opportunities, but couldn't seem to gain ground to force a third set. There is still much more tennis this weekend and looking forward to our match with Texas."
The Nittany Lions take on the Longhorns on Saturday. Texas lost a tight 4-3 match against Ohio State. That was the first loss this spring for the 7-1 Longhorns. Texas has two players ranked in the ITA Singles Poll, Soren Hess-Olesen at 16 and Adrian Beckowicz at 65.
Please check back to GoPSUsports.com throughout the weekend for more coverage of the Penn State men's tennis team at the ITA Men's Team Indoor National Championships. Updates are also available on our Facebook, Penn State Men's Tennis, and Twitter, @pennstateMTEN, pages.
Doubles:
1. Laaribi/Stakhovsky(PSU) vs. #1 Hanfmann/Quiroz(USC), 6-5, unfinished.
2. #38 de Vroome/Johnson(USC) def. Barry/Fennell(PSU), 6-4.
3. Crystal/Farren(USC) def. Reilly/Trkulja(PSU), 6-4.
Order of Finish: 3,2
Singles:
1. #7 Yannick Hanfmann(USC) def. Leo Stakhovsky(PSU), 6-1, 7-6(4).
2. #24 Roberto Quiroz(USC) def. Alex Fennell(PSU), 6-3, 6-1.
3. Matt Barry(PSU) vs. #20 Jonny Wang(USC), 4-6, 3-3, unfinished.
4. Eric Johnson(USC) def. Roman Trkulja(PSU), 6-1, 6-2.
5. Aws Laaribi(PSU) vs. Max de Vroome(USC), 5-7, 1-5, unfinished.
6. Tomas Hanzlik(PSU) vs. #49 Nick Crystal(USC), 2-6, 3-5, unfinished.
Order of Finish: 2,4,1