Last weekend was the first round of a one-month heavyweight fight for the No. 40 Penn State men's tennis team (14-2, 4-1 Big Ten).
The heavyweight fight is Big Ten play and the Nittany Lions dominated during two conference matches, beating No. 29 Minnesota, (12-6, 2-3), 5-2, and defeating Iowa (7-7, 0-4), 7-0.
Yesterday, the Lions began their match against the Golden Gophers by losing the doubles point. A situation that has hampered the team in the past Ã~ the team was 1-2 when losing the doubles point Ã~ proved to be meaningless, as the Lions won five of the six singles matches for the win.
"I was really pleased how we bounced back from the doubles point," Penn State head coach Todd Doebler said. "It shows a lot of character to win five out six singles matches on the road."
Junior Michael James (ranked No. 90 nationally) won his ninth straight singles match, beating Minnesota's Andres Osario, 7-5, 6-3. James is now 24-4 on the season.
James and senior Ryan Berger teamed to be the only Penn State doubles team to win a match, knocking off the Gophers' Sion Wilkins and Nich Edlefen, 8-7 (7-4).
James, playing in the No. 1 singles spot, has given Penn State a boost, Doebler said.
"There's no pushovers [in No. 1 singles]. For James to do what he's doing it shows how much he's improved," Doebler said.
Sophomore Adam Slagter, sophomore Brendan Lynch, freshman Ryan Gormley and junior James Dwyer won the other four singles matches for the Lions.
Lynch, who missed the first eight weeks of the season with a collarbone injury, is now 3-0 on the spring.
The lone win for the Gophers in singles came from No. 93 Raoul Schwark, playing in the No. 2 singles, winning against Berger in straight sets.
On Friday, facing an Iowa team coming off of 7-0 and 6-1 losses, the Lions added to the misery, handing the Hawkeyes another 7-0 defeat. Iowa earned a doubles match win, but that was it.
Penn State won all six singles matches, and only one match, between Berger and Iowa's Christian Bierich's, went into the third set. Berger eventually won, 2-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (4).
Two matches on the road against two tough conference opponents, call it a successful weekend for the Lions.
