Griesser-less netmen win pair of blowouts

By RYAN DOUGHERTY
Collegian Staff Writer

As the Penn State men's tennis team huddled around coach Jan Bortner prior to its first match Sunday, it did so without its ace and No. 1 singles player Mike Griesser.

Clearly, it didn't matter.

The Nittany Lions annihilated both St. Bonaventure and St. Francis Sunday at The Penn State Tennis Center, raising their record to 9-3 (1-0 Big Ten) and preserving their season-long home unbeaten streak.

"Bottom line, we took care of business," Bortner said. "We wanted to get the guys playing more offensive-minded and aggressively, which they did."

Against the Bonnies and then the Red Flash, the Lions won all 12 singles matches and took all six doubles matches.

No one player was more dominant than Penn State junior Marc Dorfman.

Griesser's absence, due to an NCAA regulation that restricts how many starts a player can make in a season, gave Dorfman the opportunity to toil at the No. 1 slot.

He seized it.

"I felt some more pressure being at the No. 1 slot, but I thought I played pretty well and aggressively," he said.

Dorfman breezed through both singles matches and looked especially sharp in beating the Bonnies' crafty Markus Arvaja, 6-0, 6-1. In the second match, Dorfman buried the Red Flash's Dave Morse, 6-0, 6-1.

The highlight of the day occurred in the first set of Dorfman's match with Arvaja. Dorfman raced to the back corner of the court then fired a howitzer of a return shot that arrested Arvaja.

Due to the absence of Griesser and impressive freshman Jamie Gresh from the starting lineup, the Lions afforded freshman Chris DeStefano and sophomore Matthew Nielsen rare starts. The young duo combined to go 3-0 in singles action.

"Nielsen, in particular, was impressive," Bortner said. "DeStefano continued to show progress, but he could still use his size a little more and be more aggressive."

DeStefano, who went 2-0, felt that he lost his intensity.

"It was a nice change of pace to play, though, much better than just cheering from the stands," he said.

As the Lions prepare to embark on Big Ten play this weekend their use of the younger players Sunday could pay dividends.

"It's always a good idea to get people game ready," Bortner said. "You never know when the top guys will go down."

Senior Eric Meditz was also impressive Sunday. He was perfect in his singles match against the Red Flash's Zach Hughes. All Hughes could do was flail his arms and return Meditz's blasts with soft lobs. Meditz quickly slam-dunked them for easy scores.

Sophomore Damon Accardi played two strong matches as well. He was tough on his opposition in both matches, placing balls in hard-to-reach corners. He also provided some comic relief when one of his errant hits cracked a hole in the roof of the cavernous Penn State Tennis Center.

Notes:

At 9-3, the Lions are well on their way to surpassing last year's 12-14 finish. The key will be Big Ten action. The Lions went 1-9 last season in conference play.