Oct. 21, 2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State Nittany Lions had another strong day of tennis today in Lynchburg, Va. at the 2017 ITA Atlantic Regional Championships. Several players advanced further into the competition.
Single matches were crucial today with six Nittany Lion wins in the main draw. Coming off a bye, Constant De La Bassetiere (Reims, France) met George Washington's William Tutecky and won 6-4, 6-1. Christos Antonopoulos (Athens, Greece) had a solid match defeating Georgetown's Connor Lee 7-5, 0-6, 7-5. Also coming off a bye, Alp Sentay (Izmir, Turkey) saw action today against Richmond's Brice Polender defeating him 7-5, 7-5. Christian Lakoseljac (King City, Ontario) had a dominating match today against George Washington's Christos Hadjigeorgiou winning 6-0, 6-3. Clinching a victory in the third set, Ben Lieb (Newtown Square, Pa.) defeated Richmond's Klein Evans 3-6, 6-4, 7-5. Zach Lieb found success against James Madison's Paul Mendoza defeating him 6-0, 6-2.
Noah Sutter (New York, NY) had a tough match today against Virginia Tech's Alexandre Ribeiro losing 6-4, 6-1. Gabriel Nemeth (Brasilia, Brazil) was defeated by Virginia's Aswin Lizen 6-3, 6-0. In his first round of consolation, Chris Kuhnle (Shoreham, N.Y.) defeated Temple's Eric Biscoveanu 6-3, 6-4.
The four Nittany Lions doubles pairs that saw action today each had two matches to win in order to advance to the round of 32. Constant De La Bassetiere and Christian Lakoseljac first faced Virginia Tech's Chase Bernstine and George Cartledege defeating the Hokies 8-5. In their second doubles match of the day, De La Bassetiere and Lakoseljac took on William and Mary's Christian Cargill and Louis Newman who they also defeated 8-5. The doubles duo of Christos Antonopoulos and Alp Sentay took on Saint Joseph's University first and defeated them 8-2. Antonopoulos and Sentay then faced Virginia Tech's Ryan Kros and Feliksas Sakalauskas who they dominated 8-1.
Matt Galush and Ben Lieb faced VCU's Javier Amantegui and Arvid Noren defeating them 8-4. In the next round Galush and B. Lieb took on Virginia Tech's Carlo Donato and Alexandre Ribeiro but were defeated 8-2. Chris Kuhnle and Noah Sutter had a tough match against Temple's Alberto Caceres and Thomas Sevel losing 8-5.
"We had another very good day for the Nittany Lions," said head coach Jeff Zinn. "We have two teams in the quarterfinals for doubles which I feel really good about. We also have six players in the singles round of 32 so I also feel really good about that. Our top four players played well today, maybe not their best tennis but I think it's important to get your teeth into the tournament. Ben and Zach Lieb each won a couple now too in the tournament, so I think they feel better. Overall, I feel good leading up to tomorrow with two rounds of singles and one doubles. Tomorrow is a big day for conditioning so we will see how conditioned and prepared we are."
"I'm very happy with the way the team competed as a team," said associate head coach Paul Tobin. Going 12-4 put a lot of guys deeper in the draw. Christos, Ben and Alp pulled out close matches, which is something I would rather see than blowout scores. Doubles looked better today, more energy and consistency. The guys need to stay focused and we should be good."
The Lions will continue play 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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