March 25, 2016
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 25 Nittany Lions (14-4, 1-2) battled the No. 23 Michigan Wolverines (13-3, 2-0), ending 5-2 on Friday night in Ann Arbor. Penn State held Michigan close in singles but could not pull out enough wins to clinch the match.
"That was a true Top 25 battle," said head coach Jeff Zinn. "That was what two really good teams do in conference play. We fought in every position and it just didn't turn our way unfortunately. I am very proud of the way we fought and the way that we competed in such a big match. I will be pleased if we can continue to compete like this; if we do we will have a really good year.
Seniors Leonard Stakhovsky (Kiev, Ukraine) and Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.) were the first duo to run into doubles trouble. The match was kept close until the end when the pair of Malik/Wong ended it 6-4. The standard first doubles pair of David Kohan (Sydney, Australia) and Christian Lutschaunig (Richboro, Pa.) fell to the Wolverines next, losing the doubles point for the day.
The singles matches were evenly matched, going back and forth. Michigan picked up the first win at fifth singles, followed by No. 96 Stakhovsky's upset win over No. 75 Janthan Malik. Leo fought back after dropping the first set to win the next two 6-1. Michigan answered with a three-set win on court six bringing the score to 3-1. The Wolverines clinched the match after Carter Lin locked up a win at third singles against No. 125 Barry.
Freshman Constant De La Bassetiere (Reims, France) picked up a big, upset win at second singles to bring Penn State their second point. De La Bassetiere topped No. 107 Alex Knight in a three-set battle.
"Congratulations to Coach Steinberg and the Wolverines," said assistant coach Paul Tobin. "It was a tight battle in singles with five three-set matches. It was a tough match against two evenly matched teams. We will certainly be able to learn from this and move forward into our matches next weekend.
The Nittany Lions travel back to Happy Valley next weekend to battle Nebraska Friday and take on a double header Sunday against Monmouth and Iowa.
Please check back to GoPSUSports.com for more coverage of the Penn State men's tennis team. Updates are also available on our Facebook, Penn State Men's Tennis, and Twitter, @pennstateMTEN, pages.
2 Penn State, 5 Michigan
Doubles
1.#39 Alex Knight/Runhao Hua (U-M) d. Christian Lutschaunig/David Kohan (PSU), 6-3
2. Jathan Malik/Kevin Wong (U-M) d. Leo Stakhovsky/Matt Barry (PSU), 6-4
3. Myles Schalet/Gabe Tishman (U-M) vs. Constant De La Bassetiere/Matt Galush (PSU), 5-5, dnf.
Order of Finish: 2,1
Singles
1. # 96 Leo Stakhovsky (PSU) d. #75 Jathan Malik (U-M), 3-6, 6-1, 6-1
2. Constant De La Bassetiere (PSU) d. #107 Alex Knight (U-M), 6-7 (0), 6-3, 6-2
3. Carter Lin (U-M) d. # 125 Matt Barry (PSU), 4-6, 7-5, 7-5
4. Runhao Hua (U-M) d. Aws Laaribi (PSU), 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (5)
5. Davis Crocker (U-M) d. Tomas Hanzlik (PSU), 6-4, 6-3
6. Myles Schalet (U-M) d. Ben Lieb (PSU), 7-5, 5-7, 6-3
Order of Finish: 5, 1, 6, 3, 2, 4