September 23, 2016 - UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; The Penn State men's tennis team began the fall season today at the split-squad Ivy Plus Invitational, co-hosted by Princeton University and University of Pennsylvania. The top four members of each participating team, including the Nittany Lions, travelled to Princeton, NJ while a larger group began play in Philadelphia, PA.
This first day of the fall season was all about singles, and the blue and white came through it strongly with several victories. Matt Galush (Cary, NC) defeated Galen Lee of Harvard in the second round of matches, posting 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. Freshman, Gabriel Nemeth (Brasilia, Brazil) faced Josh Kliger of Bryant University and won 6-2, 6-4. Henry Gordon (New Braunfels, TX) was victorious against a home team player from Princeton University in a 6-2, 6-7, 6-1 bout. Nika Dolidze (Tbilisi, Georgia) won his first round also against the home team, University of Pennsylvania, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3.
Zach Lieb (Newtown Square, PA) tallied a 6-4, 6-2 win for Penn State against Drexel University's Hamza Laleej. Another win for a Leib; Zach Leib (Newtown Square, PA) posted 7-6 (8-6) against Tennessee's Steven Karl. Marc Collado (Barcelona, Spain) overpowered Tom Colauatti of Princeton 6-4, 7-5. Freshman Christian Lakoseljac (King City, Ontario) displayed a solid 6-2, 7-6 (7-1) triumph over Buffalo's Petr Vodak.
"It was just what the doctor ordered. Terrific weather and lots of good tennis" said head coach Jeff Zinn from the Princeton location "The boys battled hard and showed that they can play with any of the teams here. We would have liked to have won a few more of the close ones but that's why you play these fall events. It's a learning and growing experience and we got a full dose of both today. We need another two days of this and it'll be a good tournament for us."
"The first tournament of the fall season is generally a good indicator of how well we prepared during the summer. The competition is pretty equal, so it's coming down to who has more match play experience during the summer season," said associate head coach Paul Tobin from the University of Pennsylvania location of the tournament.
The Ivy Plus Tournament will resume tomorrow morning and conclude on Sunday, September 25. Remember to follow up with GoPSUsports and our social media this weekend to keep up to date with the results of the Ivy Plus Tournament.
Keep up with the Penn State men's tennis team at GoPSUsports.com. For continued updates throughout the year, make sure to `like' our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pennstatemten and follow our twitter @pennstateMTEN