The Penn State men's tennis team moved up to No. 16 in the ITA Poll, released Wednesday. After a big weekend at the ITA Kickoff Weekend in Lexington, Ky., the Nittany Lions jumped up 10 spots in the rankings. Penn State opened their 2015 season with a 4-3 win over No. 19 Kentucky on Friday and a 4-1 victory against No. 20 South Florida on Saturday.
The Nittany Lions host Penn at 9 a.m. and Temple at 2 p.m. in a doubleheader on Sunday, Feb. 1, at the Indoor Tennis Center.
At No. 16, Penn State matched their highest ranking in program history. The blue and white were also No. 16 on April 8, 2014.
Led by Head Coach Jeff Zinn and Assistant Coach Paul Tobin, the Nittany Lions and Columbia were the only two teams at the ITA Kickoff Weekend to knock off two Top 20 opponents to advance out of their regional. Penn State joins Columbia and Duke as one of only three teams in Division I with two wins over Top 20 opponents this season. The Nittany Lions were also one of only two No. 4 seeds, joining Ole Miss, to advance out of their kickoff weekend regional.
"After this weekend, we really felt the team would move up in the rankings," said Zinn. "We're ecstatic that we got up to 16 this week. That puts more emphasis on us to keep improving, keep pushing and keep moving up in the rankings, to prove that we are one of the better teams in the country. We have that capability and talent. Now, we have to go out and prove that we belong at this high ranking."
"I'm really excited about what the team is able to accomplish," said Tobin. "We felt that we were able to prove that last year's success wasn't just a one year thing. We feel like we have more respect from many of the top coaches and teams. Achieving a high ranking like this is a huge milestone. The players have certainly earned it with hard work in the clear vision for success. We understand it is a long season with many matches to come, but hopefully we can stay healthy and continue our success."
Trailing 3-0 against No. 19 Kentucky, the Nittany Lions showed the depth in the lineup with wins at the bottom four singles positions. Senior Tomas Hanzlik's (Prague, Czech Republic) 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 6 clinched the match point for Penn State. Junior Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.), sophomore Aws Laaribi (Rye, N.Y.) and junior Roman Trkulja (Toronto, Canada) all earned singles wins.
Penn State continued its momentum from the previous day into the match against No. 20 South Florida. The Nittany Lions got doubles wins at No. 2 and 3 to earn the point. Junior Leonard Stakhovsky (Kiev, Ukraine) knocked off USF's Roberto Cid, ranked 19th, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 at No. 1. Laaribi got another victory and Barry clinched the match point with a win at No. 3.