Oct. 2, 2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. ââ'¬" The ITA All-Americans continued today in Tulsa, Okla., with the qualifying singles and qualifying doubles rounds of the tournament. The Nittany Lions had one singles and one doubles match in the fight today.
Christian Lakoseljac (King City, Ontario) began his tournament play today against McClain Kessler of Florida. Lakoseljac had a solid match defeating Kessler 6-3, 6-4. He will be back in action tomorrow against Oklahoma's Jake Van Emburgh.
Alp Sentay (Izmar, Turkey) and Christos Antonopoulos (Athens, Greece) represented the blue and white in the first round of qualifying doubles. The duo played Loic Cloes and Clement Marzol of South Alabama. Despite a tough fight, Sentay and Antonopoulos struggled to close out the third set and were defeated 4-6, 6-2, 7-10.
"The first day of qualies went about as well as I expected," said head coach Jeff Zinn. "Christian Lakosljec played a fantastic match against a very good Florida Gator. He has a very tough match tomorrow. Sentay and Antonopoulos ended their tournament today in a close third setter. They played well in both singles and doubles in their first National Championship event."
"Christian came through with a solid win," said associate head coach Paul Tobin. "He looked good out there and in control. Alp and Christos had difficulty closing out a third set super tie and are out of the tourney. We need to work more on our doubles when we get back. Getting that double point is critical come spring matches."
In yesterday's back draw consolation Sentay played a tough match to finish the tournament 1-1. Antonopoulos also finished his tournament weekend 1-1.
The No. 118 ranked Constant De La Bassetiere (Reims, France) has yet to see play, but will represent the Nittany Lions in the main draw in both singles and doubles [with Lakoseljac] beginning Oct. 4.
"We have two players left and one doubles team so we have a lot of tennis yet to be played this week," said Zinn.
The ITA All-Americans play will resume tomorrow and conclude Monday, October 9. Follow GoPSUsports and our social media pages for tournament updates throughout the weekend.
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