Oct. 29, 2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. ââ'¬"The Penn State men's tennis team ended play today at the Big Ten Indoor Championships. The tournament was held in the indoor tennis facility at Michigan State University.
Saturday featured the round of 64 and round of 32 singles matches. Chris Kuhnle (Shoreham, NY) had a strong first match defeating Colin Harvey of Michigan State 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. In the second round, Kuhnle couldn't hang on and was defeated by Indiana's Bennett Crane 6-2, 6-1.
Matt Galush (Cary, N.C,) faced Michigan's Nick Beaty in the opening round. After a tough match, the Nittany Lion lost 7-5, 6-2. Ben Lieb (Newtown Square, Pa.) had a bye in the first round and battled Michigan State's John Carlin in tee tough sets losing 7-5, 3-6, 6-4. Noah Sutter (New York, NY) played Jake Jacoby of Iowa in the first round losing 6-4, 6-1. In the opening round, Gabriel Nemeth (Brasilia, Brazil) faced Iowa's Jason Kerst in the round of 64 and defeated Kerst 6-2, 6-1.
In the consolation round, Iowa's Dominik Stary defeated Sutter 6-1, 6-1. Stary also played Kuhnle and defeated the Nittany Lion 6-0, 6-3. Galush faced Michigan State's Colin Harvey and defeated Harvey 6-3, 7-6 (4). Ben Lieb took on Michigan's Harrison Brown and defeated the Wolverine 6-1, 7-6 (5). Lieb then lost his consolation match to Ohio State's Hunter Tubert 6-2, 6-4.
Friday featured only doubles competition with two pairs competing for Penn State. Galush and Sutter took on Michigan's Harrison Brown and Davis Crocker. The Lions could not hang on and were defeated in a hard-fought match by the eventual 2017 Big Ten indoor doubles champions, 8-4. Ben Lieb and Nemeth faced off against Alex Kobeit and Jacob Wareti. After a hard fought match, the Penn State duo was defeated in a tiebreak, losing 8-7 (6).
Kuhnle paired with Iowa's Jason Kerst. The pair went against Michigan State's Davis Wong and Alexander Kim and fell 8-5.
In the consolation round, Ben Lieb and Nemeth faced Michigan State's Josh Mukherjee and Billy Shisler who they defeated 8-3. In their next consolation match, the duo lost to Iowa's Jake Jacoby and Jonas Larsen.
"The guys competed hard and grabbed some good wins we feel confident about," said associate head coach Paul Tobin. "We had several injuries which forced players to retire early. The format gave the guys a lot of match play in a short amount of time and I think we can develop more on these matches. The guys are going to review their tapes and make adjustments before we head out to William and Mary."
The Nittany Lions are back in action next weekend at the William and Mary Invite in Williamsburg, Va.
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