Penn State Wins Fourth Consecutive Campus Championship
October 19, 2009 04:31 PM
Team Photos l Programs in Middle States l About Tennis On Campus
Pennsylvania State University (PSU) topped the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) 30-15 in Sunday’s championship match at the 2009 Campus Championship - Middle States at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa.
Wind, rain, cold temperatures and even the chance of snow couldn’t keep 20 teams from competing in the premier event for collegiate club tennis and intramural tennis teams across Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
PSU (below), a perennial National power, captured its fourth-consecutive Section Championship thanks in part to a roaring start in the final as the Nittany Lions took the first two doubles matches in convincing fashion. A solid all-around effort from each member of the team is what sealed it for PSU in what may have been the most competitive section championship to date.
The top overall seed, PSU emerged unscathed from Pool play on Saturday which consisted of match play in five pools of four. The top team from each of the five pools then advanced to the Gold Bracket pool on Sunday to determine who walked off with the newly established “Campus Cup” trophy. The trophy, in its first year of existence, was awarded to the Nittany Lions and will spend the next year in State College, Pa., with the players.
UPenn, the event’s No. 2 seed, finished second while Villanova University who was seeded No. 3 appropriately finished third at the event. Also winning their respective Pool and advancing to the Gold Bracket were the University of Delaware (UD) and the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt).
“The level of play was fantastic and the players were so enthusiastic and supportive of one another,” noted Thane Schweyer, the event’s Tournament Director and the Section’s Tennis On Campus guru. "It certainly is exciting to see the program growing across the section and getting new teams to the Section Championship.”
One match that certainly kept the excitement level peaking and stirred up quite an audience was the fifth and sixth-place bout between Pitt and the PSU ‘B’ team. The matchup between the Commonwealth’s two largest institutions wasn’t decided until the final point of a Super Tiebreaker in which Penn State B emerged victorious. Pitt, who is certainly no stranger to the competition, left a resounding impression on the field as they were voted, "Team Sportsmanship Winners," by the event's participants.
A new trivia contest was added to the Championship slate featuring 25 tennis related questions for each team to answer. The coeds from Villanova answered the most correct with an impressive 21 out of 25, followed by Lafayette College and Pitt. The top three finishers were awarded grants to purchase tennis training equipment from OnCourt OffCourt, a leading supplier of tennis teaching equipment to keep their programs growing.
About the Championship
Participating schools vary in size from large state funded institutions to smaller private colleges looking for a fun-filled weekend of co-ed team play, social networking, and leadership development. USTA Middle States awards four automatic bids to the USTA National Campus Championship, April 15-17, 2010 at the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex, Surprise, Ariz. Three bids are awarded to the top three teams at the USTA Campus Championship - Middle States, and the remaining bid is given to the top finisher in the Fall Campus League.
The format
The Tennis On Campus play format is based on the World TeamTennis format, which includes five matches: women’s singles, men’s singles, women’s doubles, men’s doubles and mixed doubles.
2009 Participating Schools Included: Bucknell University, University of Delaware, Drexel University, Gettysburg College, Lehigh University, Lafayette College, The College of New Jersey, University of Pennsylvania, Penn State University, University of Pittsburgh, Shippensburg University, Temple University, Villanova University, Duquesne University, St. Joseph University