Nov. 8, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Penn State men's tennis team continued play in the Big Ten Indoor Championships and USTA Collegiate Clay Courts Tournament on Sunday. The Nittany Lions finished their fall season this week and will start the dual matches in January.
The Nittany Lions finished play in Orlando Sunday in the singles finals. First-seed Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic) competed in the singles Garnet Draw finals Sunday against third-seed Lautaro Pane from Pepperdine. After a long, hot weekend of play, Hanzlik fell to Pane 6-0, 6-1. Hanzlik, runner-up, went 4-1 on the weekend.
"Tomas ran out of his `magic' today and just didn't play that well," said Head Coach Jeff Zinn, "His opponent on the other hand played outstanding. He kept the pressure on never let up. I was really proud of Tomas pulling through four tough matches to get to the singles finals."
Aws Laaribi (Rye, N.Y.) and Nika Dolidze (Tbilisi, Georgia) participated in the consolation round of singles play in Orlando Sunday. Laaribi was successful taking down Yancey Dennis from South Carolina with a swift 6-1, 6-2 win. Dolidze was not as successful, falling to South Carolina's Sam Swank.
"Aws played terrific all week and lost to a great player that went to the finals of hi bracket," said Coach Zinn, "Aws has a good fall season and hopefully will continue that in the spring. Overall, I think the guys that played in the USTA Collegiate Clay Tournament played really well in tough conditions and it's only going to help them get ready for a successful spring season. It's nice to play teams and get some competition that we aren't used to playing in the dual matches."
The Nittany Lions ended their campaign in the Big Ten Indoor Championship Sunday playing out of the singles Rounds of 16 and 8.
"I think we made it as far as we could with this draw," said Assistant Coach Paul Tobin, "Ben and David advanced to the quarterfinals and fell to current lineup players."
Fifth-seed David Kohan (Sydney, Australia) advanced through the Round of 16 against Purdue's Arthur Dobradin in a tough three-set match. Later in the day, Kohan fell to Nebraska's fourth-seeded Toby Boyer in the quarterfinals to end his weekend. Kohan went 3-1 in Iowa.
Eleventh-seed Matt Galush (Cary, N.C.) was not as victorious in the Round of 16, losing to Northwestern's sixth-seed Ben Vandixhorn in a back and forth three-set match.
Second-seed Ben Lieb (Newtown Square, Pa.) played a double-header Sunday, advancing through the Round of 16 to the quarterfinals. In the morning, Lieb defeated fifteen-seed Lorenzini from Northwestern in a long three-set match. Later in the day, Lieb fell to Michigan's Crocker to end his weekend 3-1.
"I don't think we played out best. We need to continue to work on staying aggressive inside the baseline, not allowing our opponents to control the center," said Coach Tobin, "We also need to work on mixing things up, creating shorter points and coming to the net. The courts played much slower than we expected, preventing our players first strike opportunities. Hopefully, the players will go back and work hard for the spring season in January."
The Nittany Lions will kick of their spring season with a dual match against Clemson January 23, 2016.
Big Ten Men's Championships Day 3
Singles (Round of 16 & Quarterfinals):
16: [5] David Kohan (PSU) def. Arthur Dobradin (PUR), 4-6, 6-4, 7-5
8: [4] Toby Boyer (NEB) def. [5] David Kohan (PSU), 6-2, 6-4
16: [6] Ben Vandixhorn (NW) def. [11] Matt Galush (PSU), 6-3, 1-6, 6-4
16: [2] Ben Lieb (PSU) def. [15] Michael Lorenzini (NW), 6-3, 1-6, 7-5
8: Davis Crocker (MICH) def. [2] Ben Lieb (PSU), 6-2, 7-6(1)
Singles Consolation:
Marino Alpeza (MINN) def. Christian Lutschaunig (PSU), 5-7, 6-3, 12-10
Zach Lieb (PSU) def. Stefan Lugonjic (IND), 0-6, 6-3, 10-6
Collegiate Clay Courts Day 4
Singles Garnet Draw (Finals):
[3] Lautaro Pane (PU) def. [1] Tomas Hanzlik (PSU), 6-0, 6-1
Singles Consolation Rounds:
Aws Laaribi (PSU) def. Yancey Dennis (USC), 6-1, 6-2
Sam Swank (USC) def. Nika Dolidze (PSU), 6-4, 7-6(4)