Sept. 20, 2015
Ivy Plus Invitational / UVA Ranked Plus One Day 3
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- The Penn State men's tennis team finished their first weekend of the fall season with some big wins. The Ivy Plus Invitational and the UVA Ranked Plus One Tournament gave the Nittany Lions an exciting start to their fall season.
The Nittany Lions showed up big this weekend at the UVA Ranked Plus One Tournament. Aws Laaribi (Rye, N.Y.) took down No.32 Beck Pennington(UK) in three sets. Laaribi went 7-6(4), 1-6, 6-3 to end his weekend victorious. Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.) beat No.90 William Bushamuka(UK) with a final score of 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-1. Laaribi and Barry played for the first time together as a doubles team in Charlottesville. They were 0-2 as a team for the weekend.
"Both Laaribi and Barry walked away with some huge wins against ranked players this weekend," said Assistant Coach Paul Tobin, "All and all, I think it was a good weekend. We could have played better in doubles, but considering this was the first time Laaribi and Barry played together, they played well."
The other Nittany Lions were competing in the Ivy Plus Invitational this weekend in Princeton, N.J. Freshman Ben Lieb (Newtown Square, Pa.) had a huge weekend making it to the finals in his flight. This was Lieb's first collegiate tournament. Lieb lost in the final match, going 3-1 for the weekend. Marc Collado (Barcelona, Spain) played himself into the finals of his flight as well. Collado ended up going 3-1 for the weekend losing his final match. Senior David Kohan (Sydney, Australia) went 2-2 in his singles matches. Roman Trkulja (Toronto, Canada) finished 1-3 for he weekend. Freshman Zach Lieb (Newtown Square, Pa.) finished his first collegiate tournament with a 1-2 record. Tomas Hanzlik (Praque, Czech Republic) went 1-3 in Princeton. Christian Lutschaunig (Richboro, Pa.) finished his weekend 1-2.
The doubles pairs were up against a competitive pool of 64 teams in the Ivy Plus Invitational. Lieb/Trkulja advanced into the quarterfinals, eventually losing and finishing their weekend 3-1. Collado/Matt Galush (Cary, N.C) ended their weekend with a 2-1 record.
"Overall it was a very good weekend. It was great watching the new guys start playing. Ben Lieb did awesome competing in his first collegiate tournament," said Head Coach Jeff Zinn, "Collado also stepped up this weekend and did great in his singles matched. There was some awesome talent out in Princeton this weekend."
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