Feb. 17, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's tennis team dropped five spots in this week's ITA Poll, released Tuesday. The Nittany Lions are 27th in the team rankings and 3-5 overall, with four losses coming against Top 40 opponents and three coming against the Top 15. Penn State is looking to bounce back this weekend after three losses at the ITA Men's Team Indoor National Championships.
Penn State dropped out of the Top 25 for the first time this season and broke a streak off being ranked in the Top 25 for 11 straight polls, dating back to last spring.
The Nittany Lions, led by Head Coach Jeff Zinn and Assistant Coach Paul Tobin, fell 4-0 against No. 1 USC and No. 9 Texas this weekend. They also dropped a tight 4-2 match against No. 13 Cal.
Penn State has played five of their eight matches against Top 20 opponents, including wins over No. 19 Kentucky and No. 20 South Florida. They also played No. 37 Virginia Tech on the road.
Junior Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.) leads the squad with five wins this spring and nine wins overall, while sophomore Alex Fennell (Bala Cynwyd, Pa.) has three wins in dual matches.
Junior Leonard Stakhovsky (Kiev, Ukraine) is ranked 81st in the ITA Poll, with two wins against Top 50 opponents, Old Dominion's Carlos Lopez Villa, ranked 42nd, and South Florida's Roberto Cid, ranked 19th.
Sophomore Aws Laaribi (Rye, N.Y.) and Stakhovsky are 2-1 in doubles since their debut against Virginia Tech. This past weekend, they knocked off Cal's Gregory Bayane and Chase Melton, ranked 30th. They were also leading USC's Yannick Hanfmann and Roberto Quiroz, ranked 1st, 6-5 when the match was stopped.
The Nittany Lions travel to No. 64 Cornell on Saturday for a noon start. They then return home on Sunday for a 3 p.m. match against James Madison at the Indoor Tennis Center.
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