Feb. 7, 2015
BLACKSBURG, Va. - The No. 22 Penn State men's tennis team fell 4-1 at No. 37 Virginia Tech on Saturday at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center in Blacksburg, Va. The Nittany Lions won the doubles point, but the Hokies responded with singles wins at No. 1, 3, 4, and 6. Penn State dropped to 3-2 this spring.
The Nittany Lions, led by Head Coach Jeff Zinn and Assistant Coach Paul Tobin, won the doubles point for the third time in five matches this spring.
Sophomore Aws Laaribi (Rye, N.Y.) and junior Leonard Stakhovsky (Kiev, Ukraine) combined for the first time this spring, competing at No. 2 against Jai Corbett and Joao Monteiro. In a back-and-forth match, Laaribi and Stakhovsky were leading 6-5 when the Hokies pair forced a tiebreaker. The Nittany Lion duo won the tiebreaker, 7-5, to win the set and clinch the doubles point.
At the third doubles spot, senior Michael Reilly (Raleigh, N.C.) and junior Roman Trkulja (Toronto, Canada) teamed up against Hunter Koontz and Florian Nicoud. The Penn State pair earned a 7-5 win. It was the also first time this spring that Reilly and Trkulja played together.
Junior Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.) and sophomore Alex Fennell (Bala Cynwyd, Pa.) played at the top doubles spot for the second straight match, this time competing against Andreas Bjerrehus and Amerigo Contini. The duo jumped out to a 2-1 lead, but the Hokies won the next five games to win the set. Barry and Fennell are now 4-1 this spring.
"We played really well in doubles and I thought the energy was high," said Zinn. "It was good to take the doubles point, but I knew VT was not going to roll over. They're a good team and they were the better team today. We got loose in singles and that cost us in certain spots. We had tighter matches on certain courts and I think we would have closed out those matches if we played it out. Looking ahead to National Indoors now and we have more work to do."
At the top singles spot, Stakhovsky took on Amerigo Contini, ranked 35th in the ITA Poll. The junior jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the opening set, but Contini responded, winning five of the next six games. Contini won a close second set, 7-5. Stakhovsky is now 1-3 this spring.
Fennell competed against Andreas Bjerrehus, ranked 61st, at the second singles position, but Bjerrehus won in straight-sets, 6-2, 6-2. Fennell dropped to 2-3 this spring. Trkulja dropped a 6-2, 6-2 result at No. 4 against Hunter Koontz.
Sophomore Nika Dolidze (Tbilisi, Georgia) matched up against the Hokies' Florian Nicoud, ranked 94th, at No. 6. Nicoud took the first set, 6-2. In a back-and-forth second set, Nicoud won 6-4. Dolidze fell to 1-1 this spring.
After the match point was clinched, the matches at No. 3 and No. 5 were stopped. At the third singles spot, Barry dropped the first set, 6-3, against Joao Monteiro, but was tied 5-5 in the second set. At No. 5, Laaribi fell 6-2 in the opening set against Eduardo Tessaro, but won the next set, 7-6.
"We got beaten today by a very good Virginia Tech team," said Tobin. "We looked good in doubles, mixing up the teams. Leo and Aws at No. 2 pulled out the clinching win to take the doubles point. They played us hard in singles. Virginia Tech's indoor courts are fast, we did a poor job of controlling the center and dictating. We had some momentum going on in some courts, but just couldn't seem to keep it going. We need to regroup and focus on National Indoors this week. We can go deep if we play like we did against Kentucky and South Florida. Some of our players just need to step up."
The Nittany Lions travel next weekend to the ITA Men's Team Indoor National Championships in Chicago, Ill. The tournament, hosted by the University of Illinois, begins on Friday, Feb. 13 and goes through Monday, Feb. 16.
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Doubles:
1. Bjerrehus/Contini(VT) def. Barry/Fennell(PSU), 6-2.
2. Laaribi/Stakhovsky(PSU) def. Corbett/Monteiro(VT), 7-6(5).
3. Reilly/Trkulja(PSU) def. Koontz/Nicoud(VT), 7-5.
Order of Finish: 1,3,2
Singles:
1. #35 Amerigo Contini(VT) def. Leo Stakhovsky(PSU), 6-3, 7-5.
2. #61 Andreas Bjerrehus(VT) def. Alex Fennell(PSU), 6-2, 6-2.
3. Matt Barry(PSU) vs. Joao Monteiro(VT), 3-6, 5-5, unfinished.
4. Hunter Koontz(VT) def. Roman Trkulja(PSU), 6-2, 6-2.
5. Aws Laaribi(PSU) vs. Edoardo Tessaro(VT), 2-6, 7-6, unfinished.
6. #94 Florian Nicoud(VT) def. Nika Dolidze(PSU), 6-2, 6-4.
Order of Finish: 4,2,6,1