Feb. 21, 2013
RICHMOND, Va. - The Penn State men's tennis team heads to Virginia this weekend for two matches. The Nittany Lions will face #34 Virginia Commonwealth on Saturday at noon and William & Mary on Sunday at 10:00 a.m.
Penn State enters this weekend with a record of 4-5 this spring. The team was off last weekend after falling 4-3 at #46 Virginia Tech on February 10.
VCU is the seventh ranked opponent that the Nittany Lions have faced this season. Penn State is 1-5 so far in those matches, winning 6-1 against #59 New Mexico and falling 4-3 in four of those matches.
Four Nittany Lions have at least five wins this spring. Junior Russell Bader (Austin, Texas) leads the team with seven wins, mostly out of the fourth spot in the lineup. Sophomore Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic) has a 6-3 record, with four wins coming in the third spot. Senior Bryan Welnetz (Laredo, Texas) has maintained a strong presence at the top of the Penn State lineup with a 5-2 record. Junior Chris Young (Melbourne, Australia) has a 5-1 record.
Bader and freshman Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.) have each won four straight matches.
C.J. Griffin (Portland, Mich.) and Welnetz have combined to win four straight doubles matches. Guanhua Chen (DaLian, China) and Bader are 2-1 in doubles. Hanzlik and Roman Trkulja (Toronto, Canada) also own a 2-1 record.
Heading into their match, Penn State is 2-1 all-time against VCU. The Rams are 8-3 this spring, including a 7-0 home record. They have wins against four ranked opponents, including two last weekend against #50 Michigan State and #35 N.C. State.
VCU has two players ranked in the ITA Singles Poll. Max Wennakoski holds an 8-1 record this spring, 20-6 overall this year. He is ranked 14th in the nation. Joining him is Alexis Huegas, ranked 93rd. Huegas is 6-3 this spring. Alejandro Argente and Jaime Vazquez Catoria each have five wins this spring.
The Rams also have two doubles pairs ranked in the ITA Poll. At number 37 is Huegas and Dylan McCloskey. The duo is 3-2 this spring. Argente and Vazquez Catoria have paired up for a record of 7-0 this spring, good for 38th in the nation.
Penn State will look to break a 5-5 tie in the all-time record against William & Mary. The Tribe are 4-3 this spring and picked up two wins last weekend against Liberty and Norfolk State. They also fell against N.C. State.
Ben Guthrie is ranked 103rd in the nation in singles and has an overall record of 9-6 this year. John Banks and Ben Hoogland both have five wins this spring for the Tribe.
Banks and Scott Huang have combined to go 4-0 in doubles so far this spring. Aaron Chaffee and Adrian Vodislav have paired up to go 2-1 in the number one doubles spot.
Please check back to gopsusports.com for coverage of this weekend's matches. Fans can also follow the action on our Facebook, Penn State Men's Tennis, and Twitter, @pennstateMTEN, pages.