Men’s Tennis Opens Season With 6-3 Win
ALTOONA, Pa. – In its first match of the 2022-23 season, the Penn State Altoona men's tennis team grabbed a 6-3 victory over non-conference opponent Westminster College on Monday evening at the Adler Tennis Courts.
The Lions (1-0) worked their way out to an early lead, winning two out of three doubles matches. In the No. 1 doubles spot, the duo of Casey Hess (Annville, PA/Annville-Cleona)/Nick Beard (Manns Choice, PA/Bedford) prevailed 8-3, and in No. 3 doubles, the tandem of Parth Raval (Mumbai, India/Thakur Polytechnic)/Emmett Hibbs (Richfield, PA/East Juniata) pulled off an 8-5 win.
For Beard, Raval, and Hibbs, the victories were their first collegiate wins in doubles play.
Penn State Altoona proceeded to expand its lead during singles, defeating Westminster (1-2) in four out of six singles matches to finish the day with a three-point match win.
Hess and Hibbs each won second-set tiebreakers in their singles matches to record victories. Hess dealt his opponent a 6-0, 7-6 (9-7) defeat to prevail in the No. 1 spot, and Hibbs triumphed 6-0, 7-6 (7-2) in the No. 4 match. Meanwhile, Beard came out on top of a back-and-forth No. 2 singles match, winning 6-0, 5-7, 10-8, and Ethan Schneider (Broad Top, PA/Tussey Mountain) earned a 6-3, 6-1 victory in the No. 5 match.
The wins by Beard, Hibbs, and Schneider represented their first collegiate singles victories.
Now, with its lone fall regular season match now behind it, the Penn State Altoona men's tennis team will break for the remainder of the semester. The Lions will return for the spring semester and the main portion of their schedule, with the team's next scheduled match occurring on Sunday, February 26 at 1:00 p.m. at home against Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent Penn State Behrend.
