April 8, 2016
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The No. 33 Nittany Lions (18-4, 4-2) defeated the No. 57 Purdue Boilermakers (16-4, 2-4) on Friday night in the Schwartz Tennis Center to get their fourth conference win of the season. Penn State battled through close doubles point to secure the early point. The momentum continued with three successful matches in a row to clinch the win.
"I thought the team played really well tonight," said Head Coach Jeff Zinn. "The week of practice on our doubles paid off. Our doubles were strong tonight and fought hard. This was a big match for Purdue for their NCAA hopes so we knew they would give us a fight."
The fight started early in the doubles flights. All three matches were tied at three sets all before David Kohan (Sydney, Australia) and Christian Lutschaunig (Richboro, Pa.) came back from a 3-5 set back to win their flight 7-5. The pair helped spark another 7-5 win from Constant De La Bassetiere (Reims, France) and Matt Galush (Cary, N.C.) to bring home the doubles point.
All doubles matches were close right until the end. Each flight was tied at 5 before the Nittany Lions fought to close it out at 7-5. The Nittany Lions are now 16-1 when winning the doubles point this season.
Purdue came out strong in singles taking home the first win at first singles to tie the match. Penn State answered with back-to-back wins from Ben Lieb (Newtown Square, Pa.) at sixth singles (6-1, 7-6) and from Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic) at fourth singles. The two wins brought Penn State to a 3-1 lead over Purdue.
Co-captain Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.) took those quick singles win and propelled it into his own 6-3, 6-4 win over Ricky Medinilla. Clinching the win, Penn State now moves to 4-2 in conference play and 16-1 when winning the doubles point.
"This a good solid win for the team," said Coach Zinn. "I think that we are headed down the path that we need to be successful in the second half of the season. I feel good about tonight."
The matches were left unfinished after the clinch. De La Bassetiere was cut short right before he headed into a third set against No. 75 Ben Ugarte. Aws Laaribi (Rye, N.Y.) was halted after dropping the first and trailing in the second.
"Huge win for the boys tonight," said Assistant Coach Paul Tobin. "The guys pulled out the win despite having to fight for some tight points. We spent the week practicing doubles and it paid off. Matt Barry pulled out the clinch for us wrapping up solid singles wins from Tomas and Ben."
These has been the third strong Big Ten win in a row for Penn State. The Nittany Lions will travel to Indiana on Sunday to face the Hoosiers at Noon.
4 Penn State, 1 Purdue
Doubles:
1. Kohan/Lutschaunig (PSU) def. Sochurek/Medinilla (PUR), 7-5.
2. Stakhovsky/Barry (PSU) vs. Madarasz/Ugarte (PUR), 6-5, DNF.
3. Galush/De La Bassetiere (PSU) def. Silva/Hanayama (PUR), 7-5
Order of Finish: 1, 3
Singles:
1. #39 Gergely Madarasz (PUR) def. #110 Leonard Stakhovsky (PSU), 6-2, 6-2.
2. Constant De La Bassetiere (PSU) vs. #75 Benjamin Ugarte (PUR), 6-4, 4-6, DNF.
3. Matt Barry (PSU) def. Ricky Medinilla (PUR), 6-3, 6-4.
4. Tomas Hanzlik (PSU) def. Dominik Sochurek (PUR), 6-1, 6-2.
5. Aws Laaribi (PSU) vs. Mateus Silva (PUR), 2-6, 5-6, DNF.
6. Ben Lieb (PSU) def. Lucas Dages (PUR), 6-1, 7-6 (7-1).
Order of Finish: 1, 4, 6, 3