March 20, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 27 Penn State men's tennis team begins the rest of their Big Ten schedule this weekend as they host Michigan State on Friday at 3 p.m. before traveling to No. 44 Michigan on Sunday for a Noon start.
The Nittany Lions are 13-2 and 0-1 in the Big Ten entering this weekend. Last week, Penn State dropped a 4-3 result at No. 47 South Florida, but bounced back with wins against No. 62 UCF, 4-3, and Southern Miss, 6-1.
Penn State now has four wins against ranked opponents this season, matching their best since 2009 and they also have two road wins against ranked opponents, also their best since 2009.
With 13 non-conference wins, Penn State compiled their most since 1987, when the team won 14 matches.
Russell Bader (Austin, Texas) and Leonard Stakhovsky (Kiev, Ukraine) picked up a win last week to improve to 9-3. The duo is ranked 45th in the ITA Poll.
Junior Michael Reilly (Raleigh, N.C.) and senior Chris Young (Melbourne, Australia) moved to 8-0 this spring and earned their first win against a ranked opponent, topping USF's Oliver Pramming and Ignacio Gonzalez-Muniz.
At the No. 3 doubles spot, David Kohan (Sydney, Australia) and Christian Lutschaunig (Richboro, Pa.) have won four straight matches and got three wins this past week. They are now 10-2 this spring and 14-2 overall.
Penn State has won the doubles point in 14 of their 15 matches this spring.
Stakhovsky, ranked 47th in the ITA Singles Poll, earned a win to improve to 11-2 this spring. He has three wins against ranked opponents this season.
Bader moved into sole possession of sixth place on the all-time singles wins list with two wins last week. He now has 87 career wins, three behind Ryan Berger (2003-07) for fifth place. Bader is now 13-2 this spring and 20-6 overall.
Alex Fennell (Bala Cynwyd, Pa.) had his 10-match win streak snapped against UCF, but he has 11 wins in dual matches and 15 wins overall.
Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.) moved up to fourth in the singles lineup and responded with two wins. He has a 9-1 mark this spring and 18-5 record overall.
Sophomore Roman Trkulja (Toronto, Canada) is 7-7 this spring and has 15 wins overall after picking up a win last week.
Freshman Marc Collado Castells (Barcelona, Spain) has a mark of 8-5 this spring, while competing mostly at the No. 6 singles spot.
Michigan State enters this weekend with an 8-6 record and is 0-1 in Big Ten play. Last week, Michigan State defeated Western Michigan, 6-1, but dropped matches against No. 33 Harvard, 5-2, and No. 32 Louisville, 7-0.
The Spartans are led by freshman Brett Forman with nine wins this spring. Aaron Pfister is 8-6 while mostly competing at No. 2 singles. Gijs Linders and Drew Lied both have seven wins this spring. Lied has competed mostly at No. 1 singles.
Lied and John Patrick Mullane are 6-4 in doubles, with a 4-3 mark at the top doubles spot. Forman and Pfister have combined at No. 2 doubles for a 6-6 record.
Michigan is 8-5 overall, 1-0 in Big Ten play and ranked 44th in the nation entering this weekend. They visit No. 2 Ohio State on Friday before hosting the Nittany Lions on Sunday. Last weekend, they defeated Detroit, 7-0, but fell 6-1 against No. 24 Columbia. They have four wins this year over ranked opponents.
The Wolverines are led by Alex Petrone, ranked 112th in the ITA Poll. He is 7-6 this spring and 10-10 overall.
Justin Rossi has six wins, while Alex Buzzi has five wins this spring. Vlad Stefan plays at No. 1 singles for Michigan and he is 2-10 this spring.
Buzzi and Barrett Franks are 6-5 this spring and are ranked 24th in the ITA Doubles Poll.
Shaun Bernstein and Kevin Wong check in at No. 52 in the rankings and hold a 9-0 mark in dual matches with 12 wins overall.
Live stats for Penn State's match against Michigan State are available here, http://www.gopsusports.com/livestats/c-tennis/xlive.htm.
Michigan has live scoring and a live video stream for their matches, available at http://www.mgoblue.com/livestats/m-tennis/index-m.html.
Please check back to GoPSUSports.com for more coverage of this weekend's matches. Updates for the matches will be available on our Facebook, Penn State Men's Tennis, and Twitter, @pennstateMTEN, pages.