March 19, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 42 Penn State tennis team returns to action in Big Ten play this weekend. The Nittany Lions travel to Michigan State on Friday for a 4 p.m. match. On Sunday, Penn State hosts a doubleheader with Michigan at 11:30 a.m. and non-conference opponent Wagner at approximately 6 p.m. The Nittany Lions are 7-9 overall and 0-1 in conference play this spring.
The Nittany Lions, led by Head Coach Jeff Zinn and Assistant Coach Paul Tobin, moved up to No. 42 in this week's ITA Poll after knocking off a pair of ranked opponents last weekend at the USF Spring Break Tournament. Penn State has five wins this spring over ranked opponents, including three Top 25 wins.
Penn State defeated No. 73 VCU, 4-1, on Friday and No. 63 Tulane, 4-2, on Sunday. They also fell 4-3 in a tight match against UNC Wilmington on Saturday.
Senior Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic) had a dominant weekend, winning all three of his matches at No. 4 in straight sets. He is now 7-4 this spring.
Junior Leonard Stakhovsky (Kiev, Ukraine) also had a strong weekend at No. 2. Stakhovsky earned straight set wins against UNC Wilmington and Tulane, helping to set the tone for the matches. His matchup against VCU went unfinished, but he split the first two sets and was leading 3-2 in the third set when it was stopped.
Junior Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.), sophomores Marc Collado (Barcelona, Spain), Nika Dolidze (Tbilisi, Georgia), Aws Laaribi (Rye, N.Y.) and junior Roman Trkulja (Toronto, Canada) each picked up a win this weekend.
In doubles, Penn State won the point against UNC Wilmington, but lost it in the other two matches. Laaribi and Stakhovsky, ranked 75th in the ITA Poll, earned a win at the top spot against the Seahawks.
Michigan State is 8-8 this spring and will be playing their first Big Ten match this weekend. Last Thursday, they lost 7-0 at No. 8 Texas.
Senior Gijs Linders is 6-8 this spring, playing mostly at No. 1 singles, and is ranked 123rd in the ITA Poll. Brett Forman has nine wins, while Michael Dube has eight.
Harry Jadun and John Patrick Mullane are 3-2 this spring and ranked 21st in the ITA Doubles Poll. All three wins are against ranked opponents. Jasper Koenen and Doug Zade are 10-0 this spring for the Spartans, playing at No. 3 doubles.
The Wolverines are 3-8 in dual matches. They play No. 11 Ohio State on Friday in their first Big Ten match. Last weekend, Michigan lost 4-1 at No. 29 Tulsa and 4-0 at No. 17 TCU.
Senior Michael Zhu is ranked 120th in the ITA Poll. He is 5-4 this spring, while mostly playing at No. 2. Alex Petrone has one victory at the No. 1 spot. Davis Crocker also has five singles wins. Petrone and Zhu are 2-4 this spring at the top doubles spot.
Wagner is 7-6 this spring and 1-1 in the Northeast Conference. Last weekend, the Seahawks lost 6-1 to Northern Kentucky and 4-3 to Mount St. Mary's.
Freshman Charlton Boyd leads the team with 12 wins overall and nine in dual matches. He has played all but the No. 1 position. Fellow freshman Michael Rolski is 10-4 overall and 8-2 this spring, mostly playing at No. 1. Ryan Khan and Allen Wang are 4-3 at No. 1 doubles.
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.