Tuesday, March 31, 1998

Great expectations lead to letdown for netmen

By JOSHUA RHETT MILLER
Collegian Sports Writer

Expecting to win road matches can be dangerous. It can be a setup for a letdown -- especially against stiff competition.

The Penn State men's tennis team (7-6, 0-3 Big Ten) lost two road matches this past weekend after expecting to win at least one of them. On Friday, Penn State got blanked 7-0 by Minnesota and then lost to Iowa 5-2 on Sunday afternoon.

"We were hoping to split," assistant coach Doug Schoenly said. "But things didn't go as we thought they were going to."

Lion singles player Mike Griesser draws back to return the ball. Penn State lost matches to Minnesota and Iowa this weekend. (Collegian File Photo - click for full size image)

Minnesota beat up the Lions pretty badly, winning all six singles matches and two of the three doubles matches. Minnesota No. 1-seed junior Tom Chicoine easily defeated Penn State junior Mike Griesser in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3. The winning continued for the Golden Golphers throughout the next five singles matches, as Minnesota only dropped two games in all six matches.

The closest match was at No. 4 singles, where Minnesota freshman Jorge Duenas overcame a first-set loss to defeat Penn State junior Eric Meditz, 5-7, 6-4, 7-5.

In doubles action, Minnesota's No. 1 team of Chicoine and sophomore Martin Michalowski defeated Griesser and senior Colin Smeeton, 8-5. Minnesota's No. 3 team of Duenas and freshman Jon Svensson also won 8-5, defeating Penn State's freshman team of Damon Accardi and Marc McCallister.

The lone bright spot for Penn State tennis was the doubles team of sophomore Marc Dorfman and junior Eric Meditz, which defeated Minnesota's team of Adam Selkirk and Tyson Parry, 8-2, at No. 2 doubles.

"It is always tough to play Minnesota at home," Schoenly said. "They're a very good team every year."

After being totally dominated by Minnesota, Penn State went to Iowa hoping to make up for the whipping.

They didn't make up for anything.

The Lions lost to the Hawkeyes, making their road trip even more upsetting.

"We were very disappointed that we didn't play as well as we could have," freshman Matthew Nielsen said.

The Lions won the doubles point against Iowa, something they've had problems with so far this season, but then fumbled their lead in the singles matches.

"Our doubles win set us up nicely to win," Nielsen said. "But our singles matches were just too tight."

Even though the Lions won the doubles point against Iowa, Schoenly said the Lions will be avidly practicing their doubles play in the next few weeks.

The Lions will be prepping until they greet Illinois this Saturday at the Penn State Tennis Center.

After their horrid road play, the Lions should be looking forward to home sweet home.