Brandywine Opens Play at Ocean City Invitational; Tops Mt. St. Mary's

OCEAN CITY, Md. – The Penn State Brandywine men's and women's tennis teams started play at the Ocean City Fall Invitational on Saturday, winning the middle of their three matches. Scoring for the tournament is done World Team Tennis style with both men and women amassing points, while competing on the same team.

Brandywine dropped all five bouts against West Virginia University in the opener, falling 30-10. Aryaman Bhardwaj (Lilburn, Ga./Brookwood) and Emily Poprik (West Chester, Pa./Unionville) teamed to pick of five of the Lions' 10 points during their mixed doubles match, but were edged 6-5. Wenceslao Lara (North Brunswick, N.J./North Brunswick Twp.) added three points in a 6-3 setback during his men's singles bout.

The Lions bounced back against Mount St. Mary's, edging the Mountaineers 22-19. After falling behind 6-0, Lara and Aditya Kommoju (Chester Springs, Pa./Downingtown East) started a Brandywine comeback during the men's doubles match, winning 6-3, to bring the Lions' deficit to 9-6.

Poprik swept her opponent 6-0 during the women's singles round to vault Brandywine into a 12-9 lead. Lara added a men's singles 6-4 triumph to make the score 18-13, and despite dropping the mixed doubles round, Bhardwaj and Michelle Pang (Beijing, China/ISS International) earned four points, giving Brandywine the match victory.

During the final match of the day, the University of Maryland-Baltimore County doubled up Brandywine 24-12. Poprik won her women's singles match 6-0 to give the Lions six points, while Lara and Bhardwaj collected three points during men's doubles action.

Brandywine rounds out play at the Ocean City Invitational on Sunday morning beginning at 10:30 AM.