Feb. 26, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 39 Penn State men's tennis team has a big weekend ahead as they host two Top 25 teams at the Indoor Tennis Center. On Friday, the Nittany Lions welcome two-time defending Big Ten champions No. 8 Ohio State for a 3 p.m. match. On Saturday, No. 23 Princeton visits Happy Valley for a noon match.
The Nittany Lions, led by Head Coach Jeff Zinn and Assistant Coach Paul Tobin, are 4-6 this spring after splitting a pair of matches this past weekend, falling 4-3 at No. 64 Cornell and knocking off James Madison, 5-2.
Penn State won the doubles point in both matches, including sweeping all three matches against James Madison. Sophomore Aws Laaribi (Rye, N.Y.) and junior Leonard Stakhovsky (Kiev, Ukraine) picked up two wins this weekend. The Nittany Lions' top doubles pair is 4-1 this spring.
Stakhovsky, ranked 121st in the ITA Singles Poll, and sophomore Alex Fennell (Bala Cynwyd, Pa.) earned wins at the top two singles spots against Cornell. Fennell, Laaribi, sophomore Marc Collado (Barcelona, Spain) and junior Roman Trkulja (Toronto, Canada) all won against the Dukes.
Fennell and junior Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.) are tied for the team lead with five wins this spring. Laaribi and Trkulja each have three wins.
The Buckeyes are 11-3 this spring, with six wins against ranked opponents. This past weekend, Ohio State beat No. 17 Notre Dame, 6-1, in Columbus. The win marked their 200th-consecutive home match victory. Penn State will look to snap Ohio State's streak of 93-straight Big Ten match wins.
Five Buckeyes are ranked in the ITA Singles Poll. Mikael Torpegaard is 36th in the nation, while Chris Diaz is ranked 43rd. Ralf Steinbach is rated 73rd-best, Herkko Pollanen is 78th and Hunter Callahan is 106th.
Callahan and Kevin Metka share the team lead with 10 dual match wins. Diaz is 4-4 at No. 1, while Torpegaard is 6-3 at No. 2. Steinbach has nine wins this spring, while Pollanen has seven victories.
Metka and Steinbach are No. 4 in the ITA Doubles Poll, with records of 18-6 overall, including five wins against ranked foes, and 9-3 in dual matches. Callahan and Diaz have a mark of 7-2 this spring, with 11 wins overall, earning them a ranking of 40 in the poll.
The Tigers enter the weekend with a record of 9-2. They jumped 27 spots in the ITA Poll this week after wins against No. 30 Mississippi State and No. 35 Clemson, giving them five wins against ranked teams.
Zack McCourt, ranked 124th in the ITA Poll, is 8-3 at No. 1 singles and has 16 wins overall. Dan Richardson and Joshua Yablon each have seven wins this spring, while Thomas Colautti is 5-1 at No. 2. Colautti and McCourt are 4-0 at the top doubles spot.
Friday's match against Ohio State is also the first Sorority Challenge match this spring. During Big Ten matches, Penn State sororities will attend matches, with prizes for the top three with the most attendance and the three with the best themes. Attending the Ohio State match are Delta Zeta and Phi Sigma Rho.
Please check back to GoPSUsports.com throughout the weekend 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.