April 19, 2017 - UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; Penn State men's tennis will close out regular season this weekend with two conference matches on the road. On Friday, April 21 the Lions will compete at Illinois and on Sunday, April 23 they will play at Northwestern.
Illinois will head into this weekend with a 10-9 record on the season, with a 3-1 record in the Big Ten. The Fighting Illini hold a No. 25 ranking in the ITA and boast two top 50 singles players, Aleks Vukic at No. 5 and Aron Hitlzik at No. 32, and one top 50 doubles team consisting of both ranked singles players at No. 36 together.
Northwestern will host the Nittany Lions with a 18-8 season record and a 6-3 record in the conference. At No. 21 in the ITA, the Wildcats boast two ranked singles players, Strong Kirchheimer at No. 39 and Konrad Zieba at No. 65, and two ranked doubles teams, Sam Shropshire and Konrad Zieba at No. 68 and Strong Kirchheimer and Dominik Stary at No. 70.
Penn State will head into both of these matches with a 15-11 overall record, with 5-4 in the Big Ten. The blue and white is coming off of a successful last home weekend where they upset previously No. 31 Minnesota and swept Monmouth N.J. 7-0. Penn State boasts No. 58 ITA ranked doubles team Constant De La Bassetiere (Reims, France) and Christian Lakoseljac (King City, Ontario, Canada).
These two matches will conclude regular season for the Nittany Lions. Following regular season wrap up will be the Big Ten Championships that are set to begin on April 27 in West Lafayette, Ind. at Purdue. 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!