KUTZTOWN, PA (May 6, 2010) – After surviving a stern challenge from Mercyhurst, the Kutztown University men's tennis team will receive another strong test from West Liberty University in the Atlantic Regional #2 final Friday afternoon beginning at 1 p.m. The winner of this match advances to the Sweet 16 in Altamonte Springs, Florida.
The Golden Bears (11-4 overall) are looking to make a second consecutive trip to the Magic Kingdom and the home of Mickey Mouse. Make no mistake, Kutztown will not be thinking about visiting Universal Studios or Sea World because it knows it is facing a formidable foe that is much better than its 14-9 record. Eight of West Liberty's defeats were to teams ranked among the top 40 in the ITA national rankings.
Kutztown defeated West Liberty 9-0 last year in a regular season match at Bloomsburg. This season, in its only match against a West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) school KU lost to West Virginia Wesleyan earlier this season. Meanwhile, West Liberty went 2-1 against the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference this year by knocking off Mercyhurst and Millersville. The Hilltoppers lost to Bloomsburg a day after returning from Hawaii.
“West Liberty is a very underrated team,” Kutztown coach Suresh Ramamurthi said. “They are good team players and fighters. I know those guys are happy to be here and they're going to play loose. They're going to be a tough team to beat because they have a lot of talent. We have to be focused and come ready to play. Our doubles is going to be the key for us again.”
In its 5-2 victory over Bluefield State in the opening round, West Liberty won two of the three doubles matches and three singles competitions to close out its conference rival and claim its first NCAA tournament victory in school history. The Hilltoppers' winners in doubles were its No. 2 tandem of Tyler McCullough and Tim Sylvester and No. 3 pairing of Alex Fager and Andrew Sickles.
McCullough was selected as the winner of the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region's 2010 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Arthur Ashe Jr. Sportsmanship and Leadership Award. Leading the charge for WLU has been sophomore standout Erik Jahreskog, who was selected as a first-team honoree on the 2009-10 all-WVIAC men's tennis team. Jahreskog made an immediate impact on Coach Sam McCullough's Hilltopper tennis program this season after arriving as a transfer from Delta State (Miss.) University. The native of Goteborg, Sweden was undefeated at No. 2 singles against West Virginia Conference opposition.
“Being my senior year I'm real excited to be here especially making it past the first round for the first time,” Sylvester said. “I just don't want the season to end, being a senior you never want the season to end and the way we played towards the end here and the way we're playing the Regionals now I'd just like to keep it going as long as we possibly can.”
The Golden Bears feel the same way. No matter what happens, it will be the final time seniors Jonathan Goulet and Arpit Sharma will play on their home court. Goulet started Kutztown's rally against Mercyhurst by winning in straight sets at No. 2 singles. Goulet was named PSAC Athlete of the Year. Other singles winners for KU against Mercyhurst included Kaushik Das at No. 1 singles, Asok Mukherjee at No. 3 singles and Cameron O'Donnell, the PSAC Freshman of the Year, at No. 6 singles.
Goulet was especially happy to have earned another opportunity to play another collegiate match.
“It means a lot to advance to the second round because we can still accomplish the same thing we did last year when we advanced to Florida,” Goulet said. “That would be a good accomplishment for us and our program to be able to go back and defend our regional title.”
