University Park, Pa. – The UMBC men's tennis team traveled to Penn State to take on the 58th-ranked Nittany Lions and the young Retrievers dropped a 7-0 decision at the Indoor Tennis Center.
Penn State improved to 5-0 on the campaign, while UMBC is now 2-3.
The Retrievers proved to be no pushovers in doubles, but PSU would capture the Nos. 1 and 3 positions to capture the first point of the match. After UMBC sophomores Justin Carter (Randallstown, Md.) and Melker Svard (Gothenburg, Sweden) lost for the first time this season, 8-4, at the No .1 slot, junior Kamal Patel (Germantown, Md./Seneca Valley) and sophomore Eliott Loubatie (Paris, France) put up an extended battle, but fell, 8-5, at the No. 3 position. The No. 2 duo of junior Daniel Gray (Bowie, Md./The Bullis School) and Alex Drean (Bayonne, France) were trailing, 5-4, when their match was halted.
The Lions captured the No. 2 singles match to forge ahead, 2-0, but PSU sophomore Leo Stakhovsky, who just defeated the nation's 26th-ranked player, just managed to hold off Carter, 6-1, 6-4 at the No. 1 position.
Drean dropped a tough first set, 6-4, at the No. 3 position, but could not rally and fell, 6-4, 6-1, to Alex Fennell as the Lions clinched the match.
"Today we hit a buzz saw in nationally-ranked Penn State," said head coach Rob Hubbard. "The combination of not playing as well as we have been, along with their strong performances was not a good recipe for success today. Hats off to Penn State as they are a well-coached and talented squad who showed us we still have some things to work on in order to move to that next level."
The Retrievers return to action next Saturday, Feb. 15, when they compete against Morgan State at 40 West Racquet Club. The match is set for 2:00 p.m.
