Tennis: Men's
Nittany Lions struggle in doubles play again at first day of UVA Ranked plus One Invitational
Penn State opened the UVA Ranked plus One Invitational today in Charlottesville, VA.
The Nittany Lions continued to struggle in doubles play on day one of the tournament. Both pairs lost in their first-round matches. The No. 28-ranked duo of junior Russell Bader and freshman Roman Trkulja, who were the top-seed in the Silver doubles bracket, fell to Radford’s pair of Nick Sayer and Thomas Dehaen in a close 9-8 (5) match. Bader and Trkulja then lost 8-4 to North Carolina’s Esben Hess-Olesen and Nelson Vick.
Bader and Trkulja will face North Carolina State’s duo of Thomas Weigel and Rafael Paez in the third-place consolation match.
Trkulja lost his first-round singles match to Alex van Gils of George Washington in three sets 7-5, 6-7, 6-1. He will have a chance to redeem the doubles loss to Sayer when he takes Sayer on tomorrow in the consolation bracket of the Blue singles draw. Sayer is the No. 74-ranked singles player in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll.
Bader also lost his singles match to Memphis’ David O’Leary. Senior Bryan Welnetz and sophomore Tomas Hanzlik suffered the same fate as Bader and Trkulja when the No. 57-ranked doubles team of Chris
Cooprider and Kosta Blank from UNC-Wilmington took them down 8-5 in the opening round of the Red doubles bracket.
Middle Tennessee State’s team of Ben Davis and Christoph Lang defeated Welnetz and Hanzlik in the second round. The loss placed Welnetz and Hanzlik in the third place consolation game against Andrew Gores and Stuart DePaolo of UNC, which will take place tomorrow. Welnetz lost in his White singles match 6-4, 6-4 to Rafael Aita from UNC-Wilmington. Aita is ranked No. 55 in the ITA singles poll as well as being named one of the 12 “players to watch” this season. Welnetz will take on Danil Zelenkov of GW tomorrow in the consolation draw.
Hanzlik defeated Memphis’ David O’Hare in his first-round Blue singles match 6-2, 6-0. He will play the second seeded William Kallberg of Ole Miss tomorrow morning. Kallberg is the No. 56-ranked singles
player.