Feb. 21, 2015
ITHACA, N.Y. - The No. 27 Penn State men's tennis team dropped a tight 4-3 decision at No. 64 Cornell on Saturday at the Reis Tennis Center in Ithaca, N.Y. The Nittany Lions won the doubles point and matches at the top two singles spots, but the Big Red earned victories at the remaining four spots. Penn State is now 3-6 this spring, while Cornell improved to 4-4.
Penn State, led by Head Coach Jeff Zinn and Assistant Coach Paul Tobin, won the doubles point for the fourth time this spring.
At the top doubles spot, sophomore Aws Laaribi (Rye, N.Y.) and junior Leonard Stakhovsky (Kiev, Ukraine) rallied from down 7-5 in the set to force a tiebreaker against Cornell's Bernardo Casares Rosa and Chris Vrabel. The Nittany Lion duo won the tiebreaker, 7-2, to take the set and clinch the doubles point. Laaribi and Stakhovsky improved to 3-1 in dual matches.
Senior Michael Reilly (Raleigh, N.C.) and junior Roman Trkulja (Toronto, Canada) jumped out to a 5-4 lead at No. 3 against Quoc-Daniel Nguyen and Stefan Vinti, finishing the set with an 8-6 victory. They are now 3-2 this spring.
The match at No. 2 was stopped after the point was clinched. Junior Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.) and sophomore Alex Fennell (Bala Cynwyd, Pa.) were trailing 7-4, against Sam Fleck and Colin Sinclair, when the match was abandoned.
At the No. 1 singles position, Stakhovsky dropped his first set, 6-4, against Vinti, but responded by winning the next set, 6-2. The junior dominated the deciding set, winning 6-1. He now has two wins this spring.
Fennell fell 6-4 in his opening set at No. 2 vs. Fleck, but the sophomore bounced back with a 6-3 victory in the second set. Leading 3-2 in the third set, Fennell won three of the next four games to win the match. He improved to 4-5 this spring.
At the third singles spot, Barry won his first set, 6-3, against Casares Rosa but dropped a tight second set, 7-6. Cornell jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the third set on their way to win 6-2 and clinch the match point. Barry fell to 5-2 this spring.
Senior Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic) lost in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, at No. 4 against Sinclair.
Trkulja dropped a 6-3, 7-5 decision at No. 5, facing Vrabel, while sophomore Nika Dolidze (Tbilisi, Georgia) fell 6-2, 7-5 at No. 6, competing against Dylan Brown.
"Cornell just outplayed us in singles," said Tobin. "Even after taking the doubles point, we struggled in the bottom positions. I thought Matt had the win at No. 3, up a set and seemed to be in control, but could not close it out. Good wins for Leo and Alex. We need to get better and figure out who we are as a team. It's still early in the season and we still have some kinks to work out. We'll get it done."
The Nittany Lions return home on Sunday, February 22, for a match against James Madison at the Indoor Tennis Center. The match will begin shortly after the conclusion of the women's match.
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.
Doubles:
1. Laaribi/Stakhovsky(PSU) def. Casares Rosa/Vrabel(COR), 8-7(2).
2. Barry/Fennell(PSU) vs. Fleck/Sinclari(COR), 4-7, unfinished.
3. Reilly/Trkulja(PSU) vs. Nguyen/Vinti(COR), 8-6.
Order of Finish: 3,1
Singles:
1. #81 Leo Stakhovsky(PSU) def. Stefan Vinti(COR), 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.
2. Alex Fennell(PSU) def. Sam Fleck(COR), 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
3. Bernardo Casares Rosa(COR) def. Matt Barry(PSU), 3-6, 7-6, 6-2.
4. Colin Sinclair(COR) def. Tomas Hanzlik(PSU), 6-4, 6-4.
5. Chris Vrabel(COR) def. Roman Trkulja(PSU), 6-3, 7-5.
6. Dylan Brown(COR) def. Nika Dolidze(PSU), 6-2, 7-5.
Order of Finish: 5,4,6,1,2,3