April 25, 2010
EVANSTON, Ill. - The 75th-ranked Penn State men's tennis team (15-10, 3-7) closed the 2010 regular season with a big 4-3 victory over the No. 57 Northwestern Wildcats on Sunday afternoon in Evanston. With the victory, Penn State picks up its 15th victory of the season, beating its win total from last season (14).
Penn State will now turn its attention to the 2010 Big Ten Championship in Bloomington, Ind. The Nittany Lions will serve as the No. 8 seed and face the ninth-seeded Wildcats in a rematch of today's contest at 9 a.m. on Thursday. The winner of the match will face top-seeded Ohio State on Friday morning.
Penn State came out and won two of the three doubles bouts to gain a 1-0 advantage early in the match. From there, the Nittany Lions won three singles matches to garner a 4-3 victory over the Wildcats.
On doubles court No. 1, junior Eddie Bourchier (Hobart, Australia) and senior Guillaume St-Maurice (Saint-Eustache, Quebec) won their second consecutive match as a pairing as they upset No. 54 Joshua Graves and Spencer Wolf, 8-3. In the No. 3 matchup, sophomore Taylor Cohen (Philadelphia, Pa.) and freshman C.J. Griffin (Portland, Mich.) dropped their match to Sidarth Balaji and Andrew McCarthy, 8-5. The doubles point then came down to the No. 2 bout where senior Ryan Gormley (Las Vegas, Nev.) and freshman Warren Hardie (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) faced Alex Sanborn and Tobias Reitz. The match came down to a tiebreaker, where Gormley and Hardie eventually captured a 9-8 victory to claim the doubles point for the Nittany Lions.
With Penn State leading 1-0, the match moved to singles action. On court No. 4, freshman Bryan Welnetz (Laredo, Texas) tallied a 6-4, 6-4 victory over McCarthy to give Penn State a 2-0 lead. Welnetz's victory gave him his team-leading 17th victory this spring in singles action.
Penn State increased its lead to 3-0 when Hardie earned a straight-set victory over Wolf, 7-6, 6-3. After winning the first set in a tiebreaker, Hardie had no problem in the second set as he got off to a quick 4-1 lead over Wolf. Northwestern got on the board when Chris Jackman defeated Cohen on court No. 6, 6-4, 7-6. Penn State had a 3-1 lead.
The match was then clinched on court No. 1, where Bourchier picked up a huge three-set victory over No. 91 Graves, 2-6, 6-1, 6-4. The All-Big Ten candidate was down a set and trailed early in the second set, 1-0. After winning the next six games, Bourchier forced a third set. Things did not look good for him early, as he trailed 2-0 in the deciding frame. Nevertheless, Bourchier won six of the final eight games to clinch the third set and the overall match for Penn State. Bourchier finishes the spring with a solid 5-5 record vs. Big Ten opponents in the No. 1 bout. The Australian native additionally went 4-4 vs. nationally ranked opponents.
With the match already decided, St-Maurice had a three-set loss to Sanborn, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. Gormley also had a three-set setback to Balaji, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2.
Final Score: #75 Penn State 4 #57 Northwestern 3
Doubles
1. Eddie Bourchier/Guillaume St-Maurice (PSU) def. #54 Joshua Graves/Spencer Wolf (NW), 8-3
2. Warren Hardie/Ryan Gormley (PSU) def. Alex Sanborn/Tobias Reitz (NW), 9-8
3. Sidarth Balaji/Andrew McCarthy (NW) def. C.J. Griffin/Taylor Cohen (PSU), 8-5
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
Singles
1. #108 Eddie Bourchier (PSU) def. #91 Joshua Graves (NW), 2-6, 6-1, 6-4
2. Sidarth Balaji (NW) def. Ryan Gormley (PSU), 3-6, 7-6, 6-2
3. Warren Hardie (PSU) def. Spencer Wolf (NW), 7-6, 6-3
4. Bryan Welnetz (PSU) def. Andrew McCarthy (NW), 6-4, 6-4
5. Alex Sanboorn (NW) def. Guillaume St-Maurice (PSU), 5-7, 6-3, 6-3
6. Chris Jackman (NW) def. Taylor Cohen (PSU), 6-4, 7-6
Order of finish: 4, 3, 6, 1, 5, 2