March 2, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's tennis team fell 7-0 against #7 Ohio State on Saturday. The Nittany Lions are now 5-7 this spring and 0-1 in Big Ten play. The Buckeyes swept the doubles matches to pick up the first point. They also won all six singles matches.
Penn State is now 1-7 this spring against ranked opponents, with Ohio State being the highest ranked that they have faced.
The battle of the day came in the number one singles spot in a back-and-forth match between Bryan Welnetz (Laredo, Texas) and Peter Kobelt. Kobelt entered the match ranked 2nd in the nation and with a 9-2 record this spring. After trading games in the first set, Welnetz came away with a 7-6(7-4) victory. Kobelt responded in the second set with a 6-2 win. Kobelt found himself trailing 5-2 in the third, but rallied for a 7-6(7-4) win.
Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic) won a set against Blaz Rola, the 17th ranked player in the nation. However, Rola proved to be too much, winning 6-1, 4-6, 6-2. Junior Russell Bader (Austin, Texas) dropped a tough 7-5, 6-4 decision to Devin McCarthy. The loss snapped a 6-match win streak for Bader.
Ohio State's Ille Van Engelen defeated Roman Trkulja (Toronto, Canada) 6-1, 6-1 in the fourth spot. Chris Young (Melbourne, Australia) fell 6-4, 6-3 against Hunter Callahan. In the sixth spot, Constantin Christ knocked off C.J. Griffin (Portland, Mich.) 6-2, 6-3.
The Buckeyes came into the match with a strong doubles game and lived up to the hype with a sweep of the Nittany Lions. Kobelt and Smith, ranked 16th in the nation, defeated Bader and Guanhua Chen (DaLian, China) 8-3. Welnetz and Griffin had their 5-match win streak snapped by Devin McCarthy and Ille Van Engelen, ranked 12th in the nation, by a score of 8-3.
Ohio State's Blaz Rola and Kevin Metka improved to 9-0 on the year with an 8-0 victory over Hanzlik and Trkulja.
The Nittany Lions will travel to Texas for a pair of matches this upcoming week. On Thursday, Penn State will take on #15 Texas at 6:00 p.m. The match will be televised on the Longhorn Network. The Nittany Lions will then face Rice on Saturday at noon. The trip will finish up the non-conference schedule for Penn State and they will return to the Indoor Tennis Center on March 22nd against #68 Indiana.
Doubles:
1.#16 Kobelt/Smith(OSU) def. Bader/Chen(PSU), 8-3
2.#12 McCarthy/Van Engelen(OSU) def. Griffin/Welnetz(PSU), 8-3
3.Metka/Rola(OSU) def. Hanzlik/Trkulja(PSU), 8-0
Order of Finish:3,1,2
Singles:
1.#2 Peter Kobelt(OSU) def. Bryan Welnetz(PSU), 6-7(7-4), 6-2, 7-6(7-4)
2.#17 Blaz Rola(OSU) def. Tomas Hanzlik(PSU), 6-1, 4-6, 6-2
3.Devin McCarthy(OSU) def. Russell Bader(PSU), 7-5, 6-4
4.Ille Van Engelen(OSU) def. Roman Trkulja(PSU), 6-1, 6-1
5.Hunter Callahan(OSU) def. Chris Young(PSU), 6-4, 6-3
6.Constantin Christ(OSU) def. C.J. Griffin(PSU), 6-2, 6-3
Order of Finish:4,3,2,5,1,6