April 25, 2012
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA.; - The Penn State Nittany Lions (11-13, 1-10) enter their seventh weekend of conference play with an upset on their minds. The No. 11 seed Nittany Lions kick off Big Ten Tournament play on Thursday afternoon against the host No. 6 seed Northwestern Wild Cats (14-9, 7-4). The action will begin at Northwestern' Vandy Christie Tennis Center at 2:30 p.m.
Last time these two foes met, the Wild Cats narrowly escaped Happy Valley with a 5-2 victory. Penn State opened by splitting the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles matches with Northwestern. The No. 76 duo of Joshua Graves and Spencer Wolf outdid sophomore Russell Bader (Austin, Texas) and junior Bryan Welnetz (Laredo, Texas) in first doubles though, 9-7, sealing the first point of the match. From there senior Taylor Cohen (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Bader earned singles victories for Penn State to even the match at 2-2, but Northwestern was too much for Penn State, pulling away in the end.
Senior Jason Lee (Melbourne, Australia) returned to action in style last weekend. He and Bader earned two more wins over ranked foes, to push their combined doubles record to 13-1 on the season, including a 5-0 record against ranked opponents. Following their impressive weekend, the duo jumped eight spots in this week's ITA Top-75 doubles poll to No. 23. With the two victories, Lee moved into a four-way tie with Ryan Berger (2003-07), Ryan Gormley (2006-10), and Malcolm Scatliffe (2002-06) for fourth on Penn State's all-time doubles wins list.
Bader has been a force for the Nittany Lions in singles play, as well. The sophomore leads Penn State's singles attack with 23 overall victories this season, 14 of which have come this spring. Even more impressively, Bader holds a 3-0 record when being pushed up to the No. 1 singles position this season. Cohen has also provided a consistent spark for the Nittany Lions on court three. The senior co-captain has amassed 15 dual match victories this spring, including a team-best 5-6 record in Big Ten play.
Northwestern is bolstered by a pair of excellent players at the front end of its arsenal. Senior Joshua Graves and junior Spencer Wolf have paced the Wild Cats for two full seasons and look to help power Northwestern deep into the postseason. Wolf holds the No. 120 singles ranking this week following a 14-9 regular season, which saw him go 1-3 against nationally ranked opponents. Graves mans the No. 1 singles position for Northwestern, posting a 5-8 record against some of the best competition in the country. The duo also forms the No. 76 doubles tandem in the nation.
The winner of Thursday afternoon's match will advance to a quarterfinal bout against the No. 3 seed Illinois Fighting Illini Friday afternoon. Illinois earned a first round bye following an 8-3 Big Ten campaign, including wins over both Northwestern, 5-2, and Penn State, 6-1. Quaterfinal action will begin at the Vandy Christie Tennis Center on Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m.