James Dwyer and Guillaume St-Maurice felt the pressure of the entire match on their shoulders yesterday.
The two Penn State men's tennis players needed to win both singles matches to clinch the victory, but they came up just short as No. 14 Michigan held off a late comeback to earn the 5-2 win.
With the Nittany Lions trailing the Wolverines 3-2, Dwyer and St-Maurice carried their team's fate. Their teammates ran down from the bleachers onto the court to cheer them on up-close.
"There's always extra pressure, but that's what you live for, and I didn't step up," Dwyer said after a three-set loss (6-3, 2-6, 5-7) to Peter Aarts. "I'm used to being in that situation. In the past I have always come through; just today the other guy hit some big shots."
Dwyer's loss capped a hard-fought battle by the Lions (5-7, 1-2 Big Ten), who fell behind the Wolverines early, 3-1, following doubles play and singles losses by freshman Eddie Bourchier and No. 52 singles player Michael James.
James had split the first two sets with No. 61 Matko Maravic before falling in the third set, 6-3. James stopped play several times within the third set, as trainers tended to his cramping legs.
"It shouldn't have happened," James said of the cramps. "It was a battle, and I just started cramping in my legs. But I was fine by the end, once I took the timeout and got some fluids in me."
Following James' loss, Adam Slagter notched his second singles win in as many days, topping No. 124 Jason Jung in three sets (6-7, 6-4, 7-6).
Slagter, as always, was verbal on the court. However, he drew the ire of some Michigan players not in action when he appeared to shout in the direction of Jung.
Still, the junior insists it was nothing but gamesmanship, as he and Jung shook hands after their match.
"I guess sometimes I like to move forward and close to the nets and when I yell it looks like I'm trying to get in their face," Slagter said. "But it's just difficult to keep it all in sometimes, I guess."
Slagter was then joined by his teammates on the court, as they raucously cheered on Dwyer and St-Maurice. Although Dwyer's loss occurred first and clinched the win for Michigan, the players stayed on to cheer St-Maurice, who then fell in three sets (0-6, 7-6, 5-7) to Chris Madden.
St-Maurice said he kept the same attitude despite knowing whatever he did would not change the outcome for the Lions in the match.
After his teammates made the effort to cheer him on, he said it was the least he could do.
"Even though the match was over, they care about what we do and they care about getting the win for the team and getting some more confidence," he said.
The loss is the second in a row for the Lions, who fell to Wisconsin on Sunday. However, Penn State coach Todd Doebler would not point to fatigue as a factor in his club's defeat.
"You have got to be able to play back-to-back matches," Doebler said. "At the end of the year, you're going to have to do that."
