February 9, 2017 - UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; The Penn State men's tennis team will return to their home court this weekend for three more matches. Friday will open up the weekend with an evening match against Virginia Commonwealth University at 5:00 p.m. Sunday will feature another double header for the men in blue and white with a match against James Madison at 9:00am and the second against Bucknell at 5:00 p.m.
Last weekend, the Lions went 3-1 in their first home matches of the season, laid out in back-to-back double headers that proved to be very successful. The Penn State men's tennis team dominated the competition, shutting out three of the four teams they faced.
Friday's match against VCU will bring with it their No. 1 player, Daryl Monfils, brother of Gael Monfils. Gael Monfils is currently in the thirteenth year of his ATP career and is ranked No. 9 in singles in the ATP World Tour. Following the bloodline of tennis success, Daryl led the VCU Rams last season with 17 singles victories, with nine straight wins to open the 2016 spring season. The younger brother of the ATP World Tour veteran is also a six-time ATP Champion himself.
"It's good to be home this weekend after a hard week of practice," said head coach Jeff Zinn. "We need to keep working hard to achieve the goals we have set for ourselves this year. Everyone on the team has bought in to the same mindset and knows that no match is going to be an easy one. All the teams coming to Happy Valley this weekend will be competitive and it will take our full focus to come away with some wins."
"We are looking forward to the matches this weekend," said associate head coach Paul Tobin. "I feel pretty confident that the guys will be able to pull out these wins, they have been working hard during practices and we are still tinkering with our doubles lineup to create some more success in that area."
Be sure to check back to GoPSUsports.com and our social media pages throughout the weekend for updates from these matches!
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