April 3, 2016
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. ââ'¬" The No. 33 Nittany Lions (17-4, 3-2) took down the Monmouth Hawks (5-8, 2-0) 6-1 on Sunday in the Sarni Tennis Center. The Lions started off strong in doubles, continuing that into singles. Penn State fought through five tiebreak points, only having one match go into a third set.
The momentum, from the win against No. 60 Iowa earlier in the day, followed through into the afternoon. The Lions blanked Iowa 4-0 to preface their win against Monmouth.
All three doubles pairs picked up win against the Hawks. David Kohan (Sydney, Australia) and Christian Lutschaunig (Richboro, Pa.) finished 6-3 at first doubles. Matt Galush (Cary, N.C.) and Constant De La Bassetiere (Reims, France) dominated at second doubles, finishing first. Roman Trkulja (Toronto, Canada) and Ben Lieb (Newtown Square, Pa.) paired up for the first time together to win their third doubles flight 6-3.
Junior Aws Laaribi (Rye, N.Y.) snagged the first singles win at second singles. Laaribi dominated Monmouth's Przemyslaw Filipek 6-2, 6-2 bringing Penn State to 2-0. Leonard Stakhovsky (Kiev, Ukraine) got his second singles win of the day against the Hawks, winning 6-2, 6-1 on court one. Stakhovsky advances to 4-1 for the weekend.
Kohan took the next singles win at third singles, bringing down Gomez in two tiebreak sets. The red-shirt junior battled through two tiebreaks 9-7 and 7-1. Kohan clinched the win for Penn State at 4-0.
Freshman Zach Lieb (Newtown Square, Pa.) saw action today at sixth singles. Lieb picked up the win after a tough second set tiebreak. Penn State's lead was extended to 5-1. Nika Dolidze (Tbilisi, Georgia) ended the match with two tiebreak sets. The junior battled through both tiebreaks, 7-3, 7-4 to send the Hawks home packing.
Penn State is now 15-1 when winning the doubles point. The team remains undefeated at home, 12-0. The Nittany Lions travel to face Purdue and Indiana on April 8 and 10.
6 Penn State, 1 Monmouth
Doubles:
1. Kohan/Lutschaunig (PSU) def. Vaghela/Gomez (MON), 6-3
2. Galush/De La Bassetiere (PSU) def. Filipek/Pipoli (MON), 6-1
3. Trkulja/B.Lieb (PSU) def. Giuffrida/Vieira (MON), 6-3
Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3
Singles:
1. #96 Leo Stakhovsky (PSU) def. Vidit Vaghela (MON), 6-2, 6-1.
2. Aws Laaribi (PSU) def. Przemyslaw Filipek (MON), 6-2, 6-2.
3. David Kohan (PSU) def. Ale Gomez (MON) 7-6(9-7), 7-6(7-1).
4. Nicola Pipoli (MON) def. Marc Collado (PSU), 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.
5. Nika Dolidze (PSU) def. Christian Vieira (MON), 7-6(7-3), 7-6(7-4)
6. Zach Lieb (PSU) def. Alberto Giuffrida (MON), 6-1, 7-6(7-4)
Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3, 4, 6, 5