Carter catapults netmen to victory

Michael Carter stepped onto the tennis court Saturday at Pennsylvania knowing if he won, Penn State would win the match. If he lost, Penn State would lose.

Carter beat Pennsylvania's Ehud Kish, 6-3, 7-6, in No. 1 singles, giving the Nittany Lions (6-5, 0-2 Big Ten) a 4-3 victory.

"I don't mind being put in a situation like that at all," the confident Carter said.

While Carter was confident he would win, so were his teammates.

"It was a great clutch performance by Carter," Lion sophomore Mike Griesser said. "The whole Penn crowd was going nuts. It was big personally and for the team.

The Pennsylvania match was the first close match the Lions have played lately. Their three most recent victories were won by scores of 6-1, 7-0 and 7-0.

"This was probably the biggest match of the season so far," Griesser said. "Everybody was pretty pumped up going in."

Carter added that a tough match like the Pennsylvania match is a good way to prepare the younger players for the rest of the season.

"The other guys are starting to learn what college tennis is like," Carter said.

One surprise Saturday was doubles, which have been the Lions' strength thus far. The Lions lost doubles, allowing Pennsylvania to capture the doubles point for the match.

Beating the Quakers, a non-conference opponent but a regional rival, will help the Lions when the NCAA tournament starts. Carter said beating Pennsylvania is just as important as a Big Ten victory.

"Playing Penn is as important as playing Minnesota or Iowa," he said.

After starting the season 1-4, the Lions are gearing for the Big Ten portion of their schedule, which begins this weekend when Minnesota and Iowa visit the Penn State Tennis Center. But before that, the Lions face Bloomsburg in a home match at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Griesser and Carter both said the team is not looking past Bloomsburg, as Carter said, "Coach (Jan Bortner) wouldn't let that happen."