March 5, 2016
PRINCETON, N.J. ââ'¬" The No. 24 Nittany Lions (10-2, 0-1) fell to No. 38 Princeton University (11-4, 0-0) on Saturday at Princeton's Jadwin Gym. After clinching the doubles point, Jeff Zinn's Lions got into some singles trouble against the Tigers. Penn State closed out the match 6-1.
"We played an extremely well-coached Princeton team," said head coach Jeff Zinn. "They play an aggressive style of tennis and we just weren't playing it back."
Penn State came out strong at doubles. The Lions clinched the point with wins from Matt Barry (Lido Beach, N.Y.) and Leonard Stakhovsky (Kiev, Ukraine) at second doubles and Aws Laaribi (Rye, N.Y.) and Constant De La Bassetiere (Reims, France) at third doubles.
The duo of De La Bassetiere and Laaribi took the first match 6-4 against the Tigers. After their win, Princeton took first doubles, leaving the doubles point resting on Barry and Stakhovsky. They answered with a tight 7-6 win against the pair of Colautti/Vives at second doubles.
The Nittany Lions' success stopped there. The team dropped each of the six singles matches to the Ivy League team. This is the first time this season that the Lions have won the doubles point but lost the match.
Penn State had three singles matches go into close third sets. Barry, Laaribi and Tomas Hanzlik (Prague, Czech Republic) all could not close out their third sets. Laaribi ended in a tiebreak, losing 4-3.
"We had three three-set matches that we couldn't finish and that was the match," said Coach Zinn. "We played great at doubles and will work on finishing out those three-set singles matches this next week in Florida."
The Princeton courts are known for their quickness. The Tigers remain undefeated at home and 0-2 on the road this spring season.
"Playing Princeton at their place is always tough," said assistant coach Paul Tobin. "The courts are super fast and that isn't always consistent with how we play. As a team, we must learn how to attack and take more risks when playing on these quick surfaces."
The Nittany Lions will travel to Florida to train for the week of spring break. They will take on Troy, UNC Wilmington, and USF starting Friday March 11th. The Lions will use these matches to prepare for the rest of the season of Big Ten outdoor tennis.
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1 Penn State, 6 Princeton
Doubles:
1. Day/Gamble (PRINCE) def. Christian Lutschaunig/David Kohan (PSU), 7-5.
2. Matt Barry/Leo Stakhovsky (PSU) def. Colautti/Vives (PRINCE), 7-6.
3. Constant De La Bassetiere/Aws Laaribi (PSU) def. Johnathan Carcione/Yablon (PRINCE), 6-4.
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles:
1. Diego Vives (PRINCE) def. #59 Leo Stakhovsky (PSU), 6-1, 6-3.
2. No. 108 Alex Day (PRINCE) def. Constant De La Bassetiere (PSU), 6-4, 6-3.
3. Tom Colautti (PRINCE) def. No. 98 Matt Barry (PSU), 5-7, 6-4, 4-3*.
4. Luke Gamble (PRINCE) def. Aws Laaribi (PSU), 6-4, 0-6, 6-4.
5. Josh Yablon (PRINCE) def. Ben Lieb (PSU), 6-3, 6-4.
6. Kial Kaiser (PRINCE) def. Tomas Hanzlik (PSU), 5-7, 6-3, 6-1.
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 5, 4, 6, 3