March 9, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -
The Penn State men's tennis team (11-1, 1-0) increased its winning streak to nine matches with a 7-0 victory over the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers on Tuesday afternoon in Myrtle Beach. Penn State is off to its best start record-wise since the 2006 season when the Nittany Lions started 11-1 as well.
The Nittany Lions had a near perfect day, winning two of the three doubles matches and all six singles matches. Junior Eddie Bourchier (Hobart, Australia) improved his record to a perfect 10-0 with a victory in his singles match. In doubles action, senior Ryan Gormley (Las Vegas, Nev.) and freshman Warren Hardie (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) gave the Nittany Lions an early advantage on court No. 2 as they defeated Coastal Carolina's Ernesto Ramos and Alex Funkhouser, 8-4. Over in the No. 3 bout, senior Guillaume St-Maurice (Saint-Eustache, Quebec) and sophomore Taylor Cohen (Philadelphia, Pa.) clinched the doubles point with an 8-4 win over Dmitry Vlaskin and Dorian Sovic.
With the doubles point already decided, Bourchier and sophomore Jason Lee (Melbourne, Australia) had a tough setback against Matt Gordon and Peter Billingham in an 8-6 loss.
With Penn State leading 1-0, the match moved on to singles action. Hardie improved to 5-0 in spring dual matches with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Ramos in the No. 3 bout. Gormley increased Penn State's lead to 3-0 with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Vlaskin in the No. 2 matchup.
Penn State clinched the match victory on court No. 4 where Lee picked up a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Funkhouser. With the match already decided, St-Maurice won his eighth consecutive singles match as he downed Sovic, 6-1, 6-2. Freshmen Bryan Welnetz (Laredo, Texas) earned his team-leading eleventh victory over Plamen Tzvetkov in the No. 5 bout, 6-3, 6-3. Bourchier finished the day with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Gordon in the No. 1 spot.
The Nittany Lions will travel to Montgomery, Ala. March 18-21 for the Blue-Gray Tournament, featuring some of the top teams in the country. Last season, Penn State picked up a victory over a ranked Virginia Commonwealth team at the Blue-Gray. Following the tournament, the Nittany Lions will head to Columbus, Ohio on March 28 to take on the No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes.
Doubles
1. Matt Gordon/Peter Billingham def. Eddie Bourchier/Jason Lee (PSU), 8-6
2. Ryan Gormley/Warren Hardie (PSU) def. Ernesto Ramos/Alex Funkhouser (COASTAL) 8-4
3. Guillaume St-Maurice/Taylor Cohen (PSU) def. Dmitry Vlaskin/Dorian Sovic (COASTAL) 8-4
Order of finish: 2, 3, 1
Singles
1. Eddie Bourchier (PSU) def. Matt Gordon (Coastal) 7-5, 6-3
2. Ryan Gormley (PSU) def. Dmitry Vlaskin (Coastal) 6-3, 6-2
3. Warren Hardie (PSU) def. Ernesto Ramos (Coastal) 6-4, 6-1
4. Jason Lee (PSU) def. Alex Funkhouser (Coastal) 6-3, 6-4
5. Bryan Welnetz (PSU) def. Plamen Tzvetkov (Coastal) 6-3, 6-3
6. Guillaume St-Maurice (PSU) def. Dorian Sovic (Coastal) 6-1, 6-2
Order of finish: 3, 2, 4, 6, 5, 1