March 6, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 41 Penn State men's tennis team heads to Richmond, Va. this weekend for a Saturday match against VCU. The Nittany Lions and Rams will battle at 11 a.m. at the Thalhimer Tennis Center. Penn State is 5-7 this spring, while VCU is 11-4.
The Nittany Lions, led by Head Coach Jeff Zinn and Assistant Coach Paul Tobin, are coming off a 4-3 comeback win over No. 23 Princeton. They also fell, 6-1, against No. 8 Ohio State last weekend.
Junior Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y. ) was named Big Ten Athlete of the Week after earning two big singles wins this past weekend. Against Ohio State, Barry knocked off Herkko Pollanen, ranked 78th in the ITA Poll, 6-4, 7-6(5). Barry's three-set win, 6-7(7), 6-4, 7-6(6), against Princeton's Josh Yablon tied the match score at 3-3 and gave the Nittany Lions the spark they needed to complete the comeback after rallying from down 3-1.
Senior Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic), sophomore Aws Laaribi (Rye, N.Y.) and junior Leonard Stakhovsky (Kiev, Ukraine) all earned wins against Princeton. Laaribi's three-set win at No. 5 clinched the match point for the Nittany Lions.
Barry and sophomore Christian Lutschaunig (Richboro, Pa.) also earned an 8-5 win at No. 3 doubles against Princeton.
Barry leads the Nittany Lions with seven wins. Sophomore Alex Fennell (Bala Cynwyd, Pa.) has five wins this spring, while Laaribi has four. Hanzlik, Stakhovsky and junior Roman Trkulja (Toronto, Canada) each have three victories.
Laaribi and Stakhovsky are 4-3 at the top doubles spot.
The Rams enter this weekend with a mark of 11-4. They also split their matches last weekend, falling 4-3 to No. 27 N.C. State before defeating Howard, 5-0.
Junior Michal Voscek is 11-3 this spring, playing all but one match at No. 1. Sophomore Catalin Fifea is 13-2 in dual matches, splitting time at No. 2 and No. 3.
Voscek and Wilder Pimentel are 2-2 at No. 1 doubles this spring.
Next weekend, Penn State travels to the USF Spring Break Tournament in Tampa, Fla., with matches on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
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