Penn State-ment! PSU Wins Campus Championship Again
October 27, 2008 04:29 PM
Penn State Three-Peats While New Powers Emerge
Team Photos l Event Photo Gallery
Results: Pool Play l Gold Bracket l Silver Bracket l Bronze Bracket
Pennsylvania State University (PSU) athletics had a stellar weekend, knocking off Ohio State in college football. Four-hundred-and-fifty miles away, the PSU Club Tennis team took home top-honors at the USTA Campus Championship – Middle States. The event, held at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., ran Oct. 25-26.
A rainy Saturday forced the first day of the championship inside. The 178 participants from 21 teams, representing 16 unique schools, split court-time between three Lehigh Valley indoor facilities. Day one saw the 21 teams divided into seven pools of three, with the winner advancing to Sunday’s Gold Bracket. Saturday’s play, which ran till 8 p.m., resulted in the following teams advancing to the Gold Bracket: Pool A: Penn State
Pool B: Lehigh A
Pool C: Delaware A
Pool D: Pittsburgh A
Pool E: Villanova
Pool F: Rutgers A
Pool G: University of Pennsylvania (UPenn)
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| 2008 Campus Championships- Rutgers |
Additionally, Drexel, who had the best winning percentage without winning their pool advanced to the eight team championship bracket.
The remaining six second-place teams, as well as two third place teams advanced to a Silver Bracket, while the remaining teams played in a Bronze Pool.
Despite Saturday’s abundance of rain, the courts dried quickly Sunday morning and play began just an hour late.
In the first round of play, Penn State dismantled Lehigh A 29-14. Delaware A beat UPenn 24-17 with Jon Wolf of Delaware taking a 6-2 win at men’s singles, and Rutgers A defeated Pittsburgh A 27-18.
The upset of the tournament came as Drexel topped Villanova 20-19. Drexel’s AJ Garabedian put the Dragon’s on his back with a 6-1 win at men’s singles, a 6-1 victory with teammate Deanna Buhay at mixed doubles, and finally winning the SuperTiebreaker for the match at 7-6.
Penn State cruised past Delaware A in the semifinals 26-18. Jenna Shedd and Allison Altdoerffer led Penn State in women’s doubles, defeating Allie Franklin and Mai-Lien Fruge 6-4. In the other semi-final, Drexel lost in a tiebreaker to Rutgers A’s Danny Chang and Susan Liang.
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| 2008 Campus Championships Shippensburg- Team Sportsmanship |
In the Championship match, Rutgers A was up by one point after both doubles matches, but Penn State’s Leslie Finlay and Doug Subosits pulled out their singles matches. With the mixed doubles duel as the marquee match, Penn States’s team of Steve Eaglen and Liz Hough outlasted Rutgers’s to take the set and the team championship 26-19. Penn State has won the last three straight Campus Championships. In 2004, they lost to UPenn in the final, and in 2005, they lost to Villanova in the final.
In the third place match, Drexel rebounded to beat Delaware 22-20. In the 5th place consolation match Villanova beat UPenn 28-17.
Rutger’s B defeated Delaware B 26-20 in the Silver Bracket, and Lehigh B won the Bronze Bracket. Also, Shippensburg University received the tournament’s Team Sportsmanship award, which was voted on by the attending teams.
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| 2008 Campus Championships- Penn State |
Final Standings:  |
| 2008 Campus Championship- Bucknell |
1. Penn State A
2. Rutgers A
3. Drexel
4. Delaware A
5. Villanova
6. UPenn
7(t). Lehigh A
7(t). Pittsburgh A
9. Rutgers B
10. Delaware B
11(t). TCNJ B
11(t). Pittsburgh B
13(t). Bucknell
13(t). Shippensburg
15(t). TCNJ A
15(t). Lafayette
17. Lehigh B
18. Slippery Rock
19. Rowan
20. Temple
21. Bloomsburg