March 14, 2015
TAMPA, Fla. - The No. 48 Penn State men's tennis team fell 4-3 against UNC Wilmington on Saturday at the USF Spring Break Tournament, played at the USF Varsity Tennis Courts. The Nittany Lions held a 3-0 lead after winning the doubles point and singles matches at No. 2 and 4, but could not close out the match, dropping four third sets. Penn State is now 6-9 this spring, while UNC Wilmington improved to 8-3.
The Nittany Lions, led by Head Coach Jeff Zinn and Assistant Coach Paul Tobin, will play No. 63 Tulane at Noon on Sunday on the final day of the tournament. The Green Wave are 12-5 this spring after losing 5-0 to No. 20 South Florida on Saturday.
Penn State won the doubles point against the Seahawks, earning victories at No. 1 and No. 3.
At the top doubles spot, sophomore Aws Laaribi (Rye, N.Y.) and junior Leonard Stakhovsky (Kiev, Ukraine), ranked 75th in the ITA Doubles Poll, claimed a 6-2 victory against UNCW's Santtu Leskinen and Christiaan Van der Burgh. The Nittany Lion duo is now 6-3 this spring.
Junior Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.) and sophomore Christian Lutschaunig (Richboro, Pa.) earned a 6-3 win at No. 3 against the Seahawks' Zach Hublitz and Javier Restrepo. Barry and Lutschaunig improved to 2-1 in dual matches.
Sophomore Alex Fennell (Bala Cynwyd, Pa.) and senior Michael Reilly (Raleigh, N.C.) combined at No. 2 to compete against Xander Veys and Sam Williams. The match was tied 5-5 when it went unfinished after the doubles point was clinched.
Stakhovsky matched up against Veys at the No. 2 singles position. The Kiev native took the first set, 6-4. He continued his momentum in the second set, winning 6-1. Stakhovsky improved to 4-8 this spring.
Senior Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic) competed at No. 4 against UNCW's Williams. The senior claimed his opening set, 6-4. In the next set, Hanzlik also won 6-4 to earn a straight-set win. He is now 6-4 in dual match play.
Fennell met Van der Burgh at the top singles spot. After dropping the first set, 6-3, Fennell bounced back to win the second set, 6-4. However, Van der Burgh won the deciding set, 7-6, winning the tiebreaker, 7-5. Fennell dropped to 5-9 this spring.
At the No. 3 spot, Barry took on the Seahawks' Leskinen. The junior won the opening set, 6-4, but Leskinen rallied from down 5-4 to win the second set 7-5. Leskinen clinched the match and match point with a 6-4 victory in the third set. Barry snapped a four-match win streak.
Sophomore Nika Dolidze (Tbilisi, Georgia) got the start at No. 5 against Hublitz. After falling 6-3 in the first set, Dolidze responded by winning 7-5 in the next set to force a third set. However, Hublitz won the deciding set, 6-4. Dolidze is now 2-4 in dual matches.
Fellow sophomore Marc Collado (Barcelona, Spain) faced Andres Torres at the sixth singles position. The sophomore claimed the first set, 6-4, but Torres won the second set, 6-4. Collado dropped a 6-3 decision in the final set. Collado suffered his first loss this spring, falling to 3-1.
"Got to hand it to UNC Wilmington," said Tobin. "They had a great comeback after being down 3-0, and down a set on two courts. It's not like we stopped playing. Alex and Nika both stretched it out to a third set after being down. We just could not find a win on those remaining four courts. Hopefully, we'll do better against Tulane on Sunday and start closing out these matches."
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Doubles:
1. #75 Laaribi/Stakhovsky(PSU) def. Leskinen/Van der Burgh(UNCW) 6-2.
2. Fennell/Reilly(PSU) vs. Veys/Williams(UNCW), 5-5, unfinished.
3. Barry/Lutschaunig(PSU) def. Hublitz/Restrepo(UNCW), 6-3.
Order of Finish: 1,3
Singles:
1. Christiaan Van der Burgh(UNCW) def. Alex Fennell(PSU), 6-3, 4-6, 7-6.
2. Leo Stakhovsky(PSU) def. Xander Veys(UNCW), 6-4, 6-1.
3. Santtu Leskinen(UNCW) def. Matt Barry(PSU), 4-6, 7-5, 6-4.
4. Tomas Hanzlik(PSU) def. Sam Williams(UNCW), 6-4, 6-4.
5. Zach Hublitz(UNCW) def. Nika Dolidze(PSU), 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.
6. Andres Torres(UNCW) def. Marc Collado(PSU), 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
Order of Finish: 2,4,6,5,1,3