October 8, 2016 - UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; The Penn State men's tennis team began competition at the Bobby Bayliss Invitational hosted by the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., on Friday night. The Nittany Lions started off the Invitational strong, going 5-3 for the day with three doubles wins and two singles wins. Doubles pair Christian Lakoseljac (King City, Ontario, Canada) and Henry Gordon (New Braunfels, Tx.) faced a Michigan pair and won 8-6. Senior Aws Laaribi (Rye, N.Y.) and freshman partner Gabriel Nemeth (Brasilia, Brazil) took both matches in their flight, first against an Iowa pair in an 8-3 scrap and then against a pair from Wisconsin, 8-5.
In the singles competition, Gabriel Nemeth was victorious against Indiana's Brodney 6-2, 6-4. Christian Lakoseljac and Henry Gordon also participated in singles matches but unfortunately did not come out on top. "We really want our young players to get some good competition going into our regional tournament next weekend," said head coach Jeff Zinn. "The more quality matches they can play the better they will be in the long run. The Bobby Bayliss Invitational is doing just that. We played strong doubles today with the four players that we brought to the tournament. I am really happy with Gabriel Nemeth who went 3-0 for the day. He is playing quality tennis and just getting better week by week. I want to point out that the only veteran player, Aws Laaribi, who went on the trio also went 3-0 and gained some needed confidence going into Saturday and Sunday."
"We ended up taking three doubles and two singles matches, putting us at 5-3 for the day. I'm very proud of freshman Gabriel Nemeth, winning both doubles and singles. He showed us that he's capable of beating anybody when his game is on," said associate head coach Paul Tobin.
The Lions will continue play at the Bobby Bayliss Invitational Saturday at 9 a.m. and conclude on Sunday. Keep up with the Penn State men's tennis team at GoPSUsports.com. For continued updates throughout the year, make sure to `like' our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pennstatemten and follow our twitter @pennstateMTEN