October 14, 2016 - UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; The Penn State men's tennis team began championship play in Blacksburg, Va. for the 2016 ITA Atlantic Regional Championships, hosted by Virginia Tech.
The morning began with doubles matches, of which Penn State had six teams participating. First seeded pair, Constant De La Bassetiere (Reims, France) and Christian Lakoseljac (King City, Ontario, Canada), had a bye in the first round. An impressive 8-2 win resulted from a match between Henry Gordon (New Braunfels, Tx.) and Matt Galush's (Cary, N.C.) against Villanova's Alastair Hurry/Matt Phelps team. David Kohan (Sydney, Australia) and Aws Laaribi (Rye, N.Y.) faced Eddie Gutierez and Vince Salas from Liberty University and finished on top with an 8-4 win. Christian Lutschaunig (Richboro, Pa.) and Gabriel Nemeth (Brasilia, Brazil) were also victorious in their match, winning 8-5 against Matthew Fernandez and Jon Quenard from Richmond. The remaining two teams of Lions - Nika Dolidze (Tbilisi, Georgia)/Marc Collado (Barcelona, Spain) and Ben Lieb (Newtown Square, Pa.)/Zach Lieb (Newtown Square, Pa.) ââ'¬" were unsuccessful in their battle for a doubles win.
Singles play began this afternoon in Blacksburg, with four players receiving byes for the first round. Marc Collado faced Louis Ishizaka from Virginia Commonwealth University and won 6-2, 6-3. Kohan went up against George Mason's Andrew Curtis, winning the match 6-4, 7-6(5). Navy's Thomas Pecor couldn't stand up against our Zach Lieb, who finished the match 6-3, 6-2. Freshman Gabriel Nemeth had an outstanding 6-1, 6-3 performance against Yannick Mahlangu from Georgetown. Nika Dolidze also finished his match well against Matthew Fernandez from Richmond, winning 6-4, 6-3. Henry Gordon was victorious for the blue and white in a 6-3, 6-1 show down with Eric Biscoveanu from Temple University.
"We had a good day today, with four teams continuing in doubles and ten singles players playing tomorrow in the round of 64," says head coach Jeff Zinn. "We had some nice wins in singles from Zach Lieb and Marc Collado, who both played very good players from their respective schools. I want us to continue that momentum into tomorrow's matches and move further into the tournament, where the competition will increase. Again, the carrot at the end of the stick is an invitation to the National Indoors tournament in November. Hopefully we can get some players and teams to compete for those championships."
"It was a good first day at regionals," said associate head coach Paul Tobin. "Doubles look strong, we're still working on the pairings for those, and we had some solid wins in singles today. Guys are aggressive and dictating points. I am looking forward to more competitive matches tomorrow."
The Lions will continue championship tennis tomorrow morning at the ITA Atlantic Regional Championships. Check back to GoPSUsports and our social media accounts for updates throughout the tournament!
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