A 9 a.m. start time didn't affect the No. 50 Penn State men's tennis team. Even if it did, junior Michael James and sophomore Adam Slagter were the energizers.
James and Slagter, the No. 23 duo in the nation opened yesterday's doubleheader against Colgate (0-1) and Lehigh at the Penn State Indoor Tennis Center with an 8-1 victory against Colgate's Chris Ennis and Marhshall Wheeler. Penn State won the first match against Colgate, 7-0.
Just hours later, James and Slagter shut out Lehigh's John Nespoli and Alfredo Fernandez-Concha, 8-0, in the second match of the day as Penn State beat Lehigh (0-2) with another 7-0 sweep.
The Nittany Lions (2-0) were without the services of co-captain Brad Hunter (mononucleosis) and No. 95 in singles Brendan Lynch (collarbone) but several players, namely freshmen, filled in smoothly.
Both Ryan Gormley and Guillaume St-Maurice earned the first spring wins in their Penn State careers.
In the first match against Colgate, Gormley, in the No. 6 singles spot, easily defeated the Raiders Nick Yassky, 6-0, 6-1. St-Maurice also had a fairly easy day, beating his Colgate opponent. He defeated Tyler Deck in the No. 4 spot, 6-3, 6-1.
"I feel pretty good right now. It's always a little bit stressful in the beginning, you know, first match as a freshman," St-Maurice said. "But I think we played pretty well as a team. We came out fired up, we just took care of business."
Gormley and St-Maurice improved in the Lehigh match. Gormley, playing at No. 3, defeated Michael Gordon, 6-0, 6-0. St-Maurice, again in the No. 4 spot, also notched a shutout against Jesse Huth.
Even more impressive for the Lions than the spring debut of Gormley and St-Maurice was the play of junior Michael James.
On top of stealing the show in doubles, James (11-2 during the fall season) stood out, beating Colgate's Innis in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0.
James, along with senior co-captain Ryan Berger and junior James Dwyer were the only players to play in four matches. James said that because of playing four matches, he felt a little bit of fatigue.
Every single Lions player won in straight sets. The closest set was Slagter's singles match against Colgate's Wheeler. The second-set score was 6-4.
"The guys did a really good job of coming out and competing. I think we played better as the day went on," Penn State coach Todd Doebler said. "It was a good way to start the season and we have a good week of practice coming up this week."
Penn State will take on Colgate at noon this coming Saturday at the PSU Indoor Tennis Center.
