April 24, 2016
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. ââ'¬" The No. 39 Nittany Lions (20-7, 6-5) fell to the Northwestern Wildcats (24-3, 10-1) on Sunday. Penn State honored the four graduating seniors during the tight match against the Wildcats. There was a season high attendance of 327 at the Sarni Tennis Center to close out the season.
"Today was a great college tennis match," said Head Coach Jeff Zinn. "I would like to say how well Northwestern played. There is a reason they are 24-3. Every time we had them down, they seemed to come back and fight through it. We had our chances and that is all you can ask when you play against a team like them. I am very proud of our senior class. They have given everything they have to our program and the university. Today was a great example of how much the seniors have given. I want to congratulate Northwestern on a great season. They have played like an elite team and they deserved the win today."
The doubles point came down to a tiebreak point with Nittany Lions Christian Lutschaunig (Richboro, Pa.) and David Kohan (Sydney, Australia) and No. 88 Sam Shropshire and Konrad Zieba. Northwestern was able to close the tiebreak 7-2 to take the point. Seniors Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.) and Leonard Stakhovsky (Kiev, Ukraine) closed out their fight at first doubles 6-4. The Nittany Lions are now 4-4 when losing the doubles point.
The Wildcats pulled ahead securing the first singles win on court one. Senior and co-captain Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic) answered with a two-set win at fourth singles. The Nittany Lions tied it 2-2 with a win from Aws Laaribi (Rye, N.Y.) at fifth singles. The junior closed the match out 6-4, 6-4.
The Wildcats charged back clinching the 4-2 match win with wins at second and third singles.
"First, I would like to thank our senior class. I am extremely proud of the them," said Assistant Coach Paul Tobin. "Another upset would have been nice but Northwestern showed up to play today. We had out opportunities in doubles but Northwestern pushed hard in the tiebreak. There was momentum throughout of singles but NU was able to bounce back and secure the points they needed. I am hopeful and excited for our run in the Big Ten Tournament."
The Nittany Lions honored the four graduating seniors during the intermission between doubles and singles Sunday. Matt Barry, Tomas Hanzlik, Roman Trkulja and Leo Stakhovsky will leave the program as Coach Zinn's first recruiting class.
Penn State closed the season 13-1 at home. Jeff Zinn and the Lions got their second 20-plus-win season in program history. Penn State will head to Minnesota next weekend for the Big Ten Tournament and have secured their spot in the NCAA Tournament in the coming weeks.
2 Penn State, 4 Northwestern
Doubles:
1. Leo Stakhovsky/Matt Barry (PSU) def. Strong Kirchheimer/Fedor Baev (NU), 6-4.
2. #88 Sam Shropshire/Konrad Zieba (NU) def. Christian Lutschaunig/David Kohan (PSU), 7-6(2).
3. Alp Horoz/Mihir Kumar (NU) def. Roman Trkulja/Aws Laaribi (PSU), 6-3.
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles:
1. #41 Sam Shropshire (NU) def. Leo Stakhovsky (PSU), 6-3, 7-5.
2. #16 Konrad Zieba (NU) def. Constant De La Bassetiere (PSU), 6-2, 6-3
3. #78 Strong Kirchheimer (NU) def. Matt Barry (PSU), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
4. Tomas Hanzlik (PSU) def. Fedor Baev (NU) 7-6(3), 6-4.
5. Aws Laaribi (PSU) def. Alp Horoz (NU) 6-4, 6-4.
6. Marc Collado (PSU) vs. Ben Vandixhorn (NU) 5-7, 6-4, 3-5, DNF.
Order of Finish: 1, 4, 5, 2, 3