A lot was at stake for the Penn State men's tennis team heading into the championship match of the ECAC tournament yesterday.
An automatic bid to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships to be held in February looked promising for Penn State, but its 4-0 loss to defending champion Harvard got in the way.
Seeded third of 16 top-ranked teams in the East, Penn State cruised through the first few rounds of the tournament. The Nittany Lions defeated No. 14 St. Bonaventure and No. 6 Yale to advance to the semi-finals.
The Lions received a buy in the first round and opened play in Flushing Meadows, N.Y. on Friday with a 7-0 victory against the Bonnies.
Penn State then defeated Yale on Saturday, 5-2.
Penn State men's tennis coach Jan Bortner was impressed by the team's 4-3 upset over No. 2 Brown in the semi-finals.
"Our play against Brown was outstanding," he said. "The guys came through with a great effort."
After losing the doubles point to Brown, Penn State fought back and won four of six singles matches. The deciding point came down to freshman Ryan Berger's match. Berger won the third set of the match, 6-4, which clinched the victory for Penn State and allowed it to advance to the championship.
"The win was pretty exciting. We celebrated after the game for about an hour," senior Roddy Cantey said. "Ryan played solid throughout the match. He didn't fold at the end of the match."
Upsetting Brown in the semi-finals gave the Penn State a dose of confidence and motivation heading into the championship match against Harvard, which is ranked 31st in the country.
Cantey and the team knew Harvard could not be taken lightly.
"We just wanted to go for it," Cantey said. "We knew we were the underdogs."
Cantey said any other day they could have won but they fell just short.
Penn State's relentless effort and positive results throughout the entire tournament overshadowed the fact that the title slipped away from the Nittany Lions.
"We lost and I'm sure that everyone gets a little let down, but he [Bortner] was so happy that we played our hardest today and just happy with the entire tournament."
Despite falling just short of the ECAC title, the tournament was a success for Penn State and more importantly an assuring start to a promising season to come.
"I think we played really well and showed great effort the entire tournament," Cantey said. "It was definitely a confidence booster for us."
