Badgers carry doubles point to win against netmen

The Penn State men's tennis team knew Wisconsin was going to be tough. They knew winning the doubles matches was important. They were correct on both counts but came away with a loss anyway.

After blanking Eastern Michigan on Saturday 7-0, the Nittany Lions (7-4, 0-1 Big Ten) welcomed the Wisconsin Badgers into the Penn State Tennis Center yesterday to open their Big Ten season. The results were as expected -- very close -- but the Lions fell short, losing 4-3.

"Our serves were on today," Schumacher said. "We got some breaks and we held on to them when we had to."

The Lions' tandem fought back but eventually folded to the Badgers.

"We just played awful," Smeeton said.

After the doubles point, Wisconsin's No. 1 seed Loughrin defeated Griesser 6-7, 6-4, 7-6. The two competitors were not fond of each other and argued throughout the match. Loughrin said he eventually found his rhythm and knew how to play Griesser. Griesser put the match much simpler than Loughrin.

"It was my worst loss of the season," Griesser said.

Penn State got a win from No. 2 seed Smeeton when he defeated a frustrated John Thomsen 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. Thomsen's frustration peaked when he smacked the net twice with his racket after losing a long volley to Smeeton. "Smeets," as he is known to his team, was excited during the match and was screaming after every point he won.

"I was really pumped up for today," Smeeton said, "since it was the Big Ten opener."

Penn State also got wins from No. 3 seed sophomore Marc Dorfman and No. 4 seed junior Eric Meditz. After that, though, the Lions went cold and the doubles point came back to haunt them. Wisconsin No. 5 seed senior Jeff Malik defeated freshman Matthew Nielsen and brought the score to 3-3.

With momentum now in the Badgers corner, Schumacher entered the final and deciding singles match of the day to face Penn State freshman Marc McCallister. Schumacher was extremely vocal throughout the match, screaming "come on" and jumping after every point -- even if he lost. After losing the first set, Schumacher stormed back and won the last two sets 6-3, 6-3.

After winning the final point, Schumacher ran to the bench, grabbed his bag, gobbled a banana and raced to the showers -- shouting the entire way.

As Schumacher was taking his momentum into the showers, the dejected Lions sat on the court around coach Jan Bortner to reflect on the day's events.

Wisconsin coach Pat Klingelhoets said there wasn't much difference between the two teams and that the doubles point was the key their victory.

"Everyone played their butts off," Klingelhoets said, "and we're lucky to get out of here with a win."