April 12, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 50 Penn State men's tennis team split their doubleheader on Sunday, dropping a tough 4-2 match to No. 41 Indiana before earning a 6-1 win over Monmouth. The Nittany Lions honored senior captain Michael Reilly (Raleigh, N.C.) before the match and he won both of his doubles matches and a singles match on the day. Against the Hoosiers, the Nittany Lions dropped the doubles point, but won at No. 4 and 6 singles. Against the Hawks, Penn State swept the doubles point and won at the bottom five singles positions. The Nittany Lions are 13-14 overall and 3-6 in the Big Ten.
Next weekend, the Nittany Lions, led by Head Coach Jeff Zinn and Assistant Coach Paul Tobin, conclude their regular season schedule as they travel to Nebraska on Friday for a 4 p.m. match. On Sunday, they meet No. 72 Iowa at Noon.
"It was a gorgeous day to play tennis today," said Zinn. "The weather was perfect, the atmosphere was perfect for senior day. We gave a great effort today, we did the best we could. At one point when it was so close in the third set in both matches, I thought we were ahead, I thought we finally turned the tide. I didn't let my guard down, but I really felt we had it at that point against Indiana. Give credit to all of them, that's a well-coached team. Both their head coach and assistant coach were great collegiate and professional players. They're well-coached and their players played hard at the critical times and so did we. We made it a fight and that's all I can ask of my players."
Penn State dropped the doubles point against the Hoosiers. The blue and white earned a win at 2, but fell at 1 and 3. The Nittany Lions swept the doubles action against Monmouth.
Junior Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.) and Reilly used an early 3-2 lead to help them win 8-2, knocking off Indiana's Chris Essick and Stefan Lugonjic. The Nittany Lion duo also defeated Monmouth's Pryzemslaw Filipek and Victor Pugliese at No. 1 in their second match of the day, 8-2, to remain undefeated, improving to 7-0.
At the top doubles spot, sophomores Alex Fennell (Bala Cynwyd, Pa.) and Aws Laaribi (Rye, N.Y.) competed against the Hoosiers' Daniel Bednarczyk and Sam Monette. After trailing 5-1 in the set, Fennell and Laaribi fell 8-3. They are now 2-2 this spring.
Sophomore Christian Lutschaunig (Richboro, Pa.) and junior Leonard Stakhovsky (Kiev, Ukraine) met Indiana's Sven Lalic and Raheel Manji at the third doubles position. The Indiana pair took an early 4-2 lead on their way to an 8-4 set win to clinch the point. In their second match of the day, the Penn State pair won 8-5 against the Hawks' Ramy Bekhiet and Ale Gomez Estrada. Lutschaunig and Stakhovsky are now 3-3 in dual matches.
Sophomores Marc Collado (Barcelona, Spain) and Nika Dolidze (Tbilisi, Georgia) competed at No. 3 against Monmouth's Luke Adamus and Vidit Vaghela, earning an 8-3 victory. It was their first match this spring as a doubles team.
At the fourth singles spot, senior Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic) took on Manji. In the first set, Hanzlik gained an early 3-1 advantage before winning 6-1. In the second frame, Hanzlik fought off a 2-0 deficit to win a tight set, 7-5. Hanzlik bested Monmouth's Gomez Estrada, 6-3, 6-1, in his second match of the day. He now has 14 wins this spring.
Junior Roman Trkulja (Toronto, Canada) competed at No. 6 against Lugonjic. With the opening set tied 5-5, Trkulja got a break before finishing the set, 7-5. Trkulja dropped the next set, 6-4, but fought back in the third set, winning 6-1. He earned his ninth win of the season.
Fennell met the Hoosiers' Monette at the top singles spot. Monette took an early 3-1 lead in the first set, before winning it 6-3. Monette continued his momentum into the second set, winning 6-1. Fennell competed again at the top spot against Monmouth's Pugliese, but fell 6-4, 7-5. He is now 9-16 this spring.
At the second singles position, Stakhovsky matched up against Indiana's Bednarczyk. The junior trailed 4-2 in the opening set, before dropping it 6-2. Stakhovsky took an early 2-0 lead in the next set, but could not close it out, falling 6-2. The junior bounced back against Monmouth's Filipek, winning 6-4, 6-3. Stakhovsky is now 10-11 in dual matches.
Barry faced the Hoosiers' Lalic at No. 3. The junior led 4-1 in the first set before winning it, 6-3. Lalic responded by winning the next set, 6-4. In the deciding set, Barry led 4-2, but Lalic came back to take a 5-4 lead. Barry eventually forced a tiebreaker, but dropped a tight tiebreaker, 7-5.
At the fifth singles spot, Laaribi competed against Indiana's Matthew McCoy. The sophomore dropped the first set, 6-4, but bounced back to claim the second set, 7-5. Laaribi was trailing 5-3 in the final set when it was stopped.
Dolidze got the start at No. 4 against the Hawks' Vaghela. The sophomore won in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, to pick up his fifth win of the spring.
Fellow sophomore Collado earned a 6-2, 6-0 victory at the fifth singles position against Monmouth's Luke Adamus. Collado improved to 6-2 in dual matches.
"Kudos to Indiana for competing so well on the road," said Tobin. "I knew it was going to be a battle once we lost the doubles point. This was a tough loss, Matt had match point and could not close it out and lost in a tight third set tiebreaker. Aws was up 3-1 on serve in the third, but lost the next four games. Hopefully we can pick it back up next week against Nebraska and Iowa."
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No. 50 Penn State vs. No. 41 Indiana
Doubles:
1. Bednarczyk/Monette(IU) def. Fennell/Laaribi(PSU), 8-3.
2. Barry/Reilly(PSU) def. Essick/Lugonjic(IU), 8-2.
3. Lalic/Manji(IU) def. Lutschaunig/Stakhovsky(PSU), 8-4.
Order of Finish: 1,2,3
Singles:
1. Sam Monette(IU) def. Alex Fennell(PSU), 6-3, 6-1.
2. Daniel Bednarczyk(IU) def. #111 Leo Stakhovsky(PSU), 6-2, 6-2.
3. Sven Lalic(IU) def. Matt Barry(PSU), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5).
4. Tomas Hanzlik(PSU) def. Raheel Manji(IU), 6-1, 7-5.
5. Aws Laaribi(PSU) vs. Matthew McCoy(IU), 4-6, 7-5, 3-5, unfinished.
6. Roman Trkulja(PSU) def. Stefan Lugonjic(IU), 7-5, 4-6, 6-1.
Order of Finish: 1,2,4,6,3
No. 50 Penn State vs. Monmouth
Doubles:
1. Barry/Reilly(PSU) def. Filipek/Pugliese(Mon), 8-2.
2. Lutschaunig/Stakhovsky(PSU) def. Bekhiet/Gomez(Mon), 8-5.
3. Collado/Dolidze(PSU) def. Adamus/Vaghela(Mon), 8-3.
Order of Finish: 1,3,2
Singles:
1. Victor Pugliese(Mon) def. Alex Fennell(PSU), 6-4, 7-5.
2. Leo Stakhovsky(PSU) def. Przemyslaw Filipek(Mon), 6-4, 6-3.
3. Tomas Hanzlik(PSU) def. Ale Gomez Estrada(Mon), 6-3, 6-1.
4. Nika Dolidze(PSU) def. Vidit Vaghela(Mon), 6-2, 6-2.
5. Marc Collado(PSU) def. Luke Adamus(Mon), 6-2, 6-0.
6. Michael Reilly(PSU) def. Bee Kumthonkittikul(Mon), 6-2, 7-5.
Order of Finish: 3,5,4,2,6,1