LYNCHBURG, Va. -- Completing play at the Liberty Hidden Dual on Sunday, Penn State men's tennis took on Penn to close out their fall season strong.
Doubles
Splitting doubles play, the Nittany Lions won matches in positions three and four. Partners Bora Sengul and Alexander Karman bested Penn's Tal Goodman and Jason Hildebrandt, 7-6, while the duo of Chikaya Sato and Ismail Saadi defeated Zachery Lim and Sameer Gangoli in a 6-2 match.
Falling at #1, Charl Morgan and Miko Eala lost to Edoardo Graziani and Kevin Zhu, 6-3. In a 6-3 decision, Malik Bhatnagar and Sam Bossem were beaten by the Penn duo of Aditya Gupta and Harsh Parikh.
Singles
As for singles competition, the Nittany Lions won four matches in the top six against Penn. At #2, Eala took on Zhu in a narrow match to a 6-7, 6-1, 7-6 (4) conclusion. Facing off against Gupta, Morgan defeated his opponent, 6-4, 6-4. Bhatnagar triumphed over Parikh, 7-6, 6-3, and Bossem easily took down Goodman, 6-1, 6-1. Harrison Janes won his first set against Jonah Jurick, 6-2, but the Penn player ultimately had to retire.
In the losses, Sato was bested by Graziani, 6-3, 6-3. Sengul was defeated by Graziani, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. Ondrej Ctverak lost to Lim in a 6-3, 6-4 decision and Alexander Karman was beaten in position nine by Penn's Gangoli, 6-1, 6-4. In a match against Liberty's Omar El Kadi, Andrei Paduraru fell 6-2, 6-4.
"Huge win for Miko today, clinching the win against Penn. We started off strong in singles, and managed to keep the momentum going," said Associate Head Coach, Paul Tobin. "We have been competing well in doubles all weekend. Penn came out solid today in doubles and kept our guys from dominating the net. All in all, a great weekend so far."
The Nittany Lions will be back in action in the spring.
