Netmen freshman wins one in clutch

By JERE GISH
Collegian Sports Writer

The match was on the line. The score was tied 3-3. The first Big Ten win of the season and a five-game winning streak were in jeopardy. Freshman Dale Cathell had a crucial match for the men's tennis team on his shoulders.

With his teammates cheering him on, Cathell pulled out the No. 6 singles victory 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, giving Penn State (9-2) a dramatic 4-3 win over Indiana yesterday at the Penn State Tennis Club.

"It was a tough match," Hoosier Coach Ken Hydinger said. "Everyone was playing hard. Everyone wanted it real bad."

Cathell said he liked playing with the match on the line.

"I like it when it comes down to (the last match)," he said.

It was the second time this season an important match had come down to Cathell. He also won with the match on the line against Pennsylvania, giving the Lions the 4-3 victory.

"I'm doing pretty well when it comes down to me," Cathell said. "I felt real confident."

Ivan Spinner, the Lions' top seed, said "Dale pulled a great match out. There was a lot of pressure, but Dale seems to thrive under pressure --that's probably his best attribute. I think he handled it real well."

Lion Coach Jan Bortner also said Cathell played well under pressure.

"That's good for Dale's confidence to be able to close it out like that," he said.

Bortner talked to Cathell at 5-4 in the final set, as Cathell was about to serve for the match. Bortner simply told him to be aggressive.

"At that point I don't want them to be tenative," Bortner said. "I want them to get aggressive, get in and make the other guy beat them."

The match evened the Lions Big Ten record at 1-1. It was also the team's sixth straight victory. The Lions defeated Pitt 7-0 at home on Saturday for the team's third straight shutout.

Penn State began the Indiana match by losing the doubles point in a tough tiebreaker. The two squads split the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles matches. In No. 3 doubles, Michael Carter and Mike Tain failed to convert on two match points, and eventually lost a 7-5 tiebreaker to Andrew Held and Mike Filipek.

"It was disappointing," Tain said. "We had a chance to win in the tiebreaker, but they came up with the big shots."

Nonetheless, Bortner said the Lions still need to step up in doubles play.

"We played average doubles," he said. "But winning these Big Ten matches, you need to play outstanding doubles, and we didn't."

Bortner was happy with the freshman doubles tandem of Cathell and Colin Smeeton, who had the only doubles victory for the Lions, winning 8-5.

"That was the best doubles match Colin and Dale have played all year," Bortner said. "They were doing what we had been practicing."

The Lions once again pulled out the match in singles play with Spinner, No. 4 Smeeton, No. 5 Brett Englesberg and Cathell winning their matches.

"Our singles were superb," Bortner said. "The four guys that won just played awfully good."

Bortner said it was very important to come out and play well after losing the tough doubles point.

"We got off to a great start after losing the doubles point," Bortner said. "That was the key."

Shrugging off doubles losses has become Penn State's speciality as they head into the heart of their Big Ten schedule.

"We had a real good, tough team effort (yesterday)," Cathell added. "We seem to be pulling it out in the singles. We're pretty tough."