Feb. 13, 2016
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. ââ'¬" The Penn State men's tennis team (6-0) remained undefeated after they took down Bucknell University (3-2) and James Madison University (1-2) on Saturday. Head coach Jeff Zinn's Nittany Lions defeated the Bison 6-1 in the morning, followed by the Dukes 7-0 in the afternoon.
"Against James Madison, we competed well from top to bottom," said Head Coach Jeff Zinn. "Having a weekend off hurt us for the first match of the day. We weren't as sharp but Bucknell pushed us hard. We needed that James Madison is a quality team and I think we played extremely well."
The Nittany Lions easily clinched the doubles point to start the momentum against the Dukes. Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.) and Leo Stakhovsky (Kiev, Ukraine) took down Ruzic and Salinas 6-0 to get a quick start to the day. Roman Trkulja (Toronto, Canada) and Matt Galush (Cary, N.C.) clinched the doubles point with a 6-1 victory. David Kohan (Sydney, Australia) and Christian Lutschaunig (Richboro, Pa.) wrapped up the speedy doubles action, 6-3.
Aws Laaribi (Rye, N.Y.) brought down the first singles opponent 6-0, 6-3 at third singles. Laaribi took the win against Brett Moorhead to go 2-0 on the day. Senior co-captain Barry took fourth singles 6-0, 6-4 followed by No.47 Stakhovsky winning 6-3, 6-2. The Nittany Lions clinched the win 4-0.
Constant De La Bassetiere (Reims, France) added to the Penn State win, taking down Stirling at second doubles. After winning a tough tiebreaker in the first set, De La Bassetiere fought back to easily capture the second set. Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic) kept the momentum going with a quick 6-3, 6-3 win over JMU's Branth. Freshman Ben Lieb (Newtown Square, Pa.) finished the day with a 6-3, 6-3 win.
"Solid win for the guys. Bucknell and James Madison are certainly competitive enough to push the guys," said Assistant Coach Paul Tobin. "We will continue to work on doubles. I think that we can do better if we can translate what we do in practice into the matches."
The Nittany Lions are back in action on Feb. 20 when they host Cornell at the Sarni Tennis Center.
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7 Penn State, 0 James Madison
Doubles:
1. David Kohan/Christian Lutschaunig (PSU) def. Stirling/Stitt (JMU), 6-3.
2. Leo Stakhovsky/Matt Barry (PSU) def. Ruzic/Salinas (JMU), 6-0.
3.Roman Trkulja/Matt Galush (PSU) def. Branth/Moorhead (JMU), 6-1.
Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1
Singles:
1. Leo Stakhovsky (PSU) def. Sebastian Salinas (JMU), 6-3, 6-2.
2. Constant De La Bassetiere (PSU) def. Robert Stirling (JMU), 7-6 (8-6), 6-3.
3. Aws Laaribi (PSU) def. Brett Moorhead (JMU), 6-0, 6-3.
4. Matt Barry (PSU) def. Trsitan Stitt (JMU), 6-0, 6-4.
5. Tomas Hanzlik (PSU) def. Maxi Branth (JMU), 6-3, 6-3.
6. Ben Lieb (PSU) def. Miljan Ruzic (JMU), 6-3, 6-3.
Order of Finish: 3, 4, 1, 2, 5, 6