Jan. 27, 2018
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA.-- The Penn State men's tennis team took on Virginia Tech in the first of two matches on a travel weekend, ultimately falling 4-1. Despite a strong start to the day, winning the doubles point, the Nittany Lions weren't able to win out in singles.
Alp Sentay (Izmar, Turkey) and Christos Antonopoulos (Athens, Greece) clinched the doubles point with a 7-5 win over Alexandre Ribeiro and Chase Bernstine. Gabriel Nemeth (Brasilia, Brazil) and Ben Lieb (Newtown Square, Pa.) picked up a win against Jason Kros and Carlo Donato 6-4. Constant De La Bassetiere (Reims, France) and Christian Lakoseljac (King City, Ontario, Canada) fell to No. 14 Mitch Harper and Henrik Korsgaard 6-2.
The team battled it out in singles, but fell to to Virginia Tech 0-4, with two matches going unfinished. No. 67 De La Bassetiere fell to No. 68 Harper 6-1, 7-5. Lakoseljac put up a tough three match effort against No. 80 Kros, but ultimately lost 0-6, 6-3, 6-2. Antonopoulos hung with No. 97 Ribeiro for three sets, but lost 3-6, 6-4, 6-1. Sentay fell to Korsgaard 6-3, 6-2.
Nemeth did not finish the match with Donato, the score was 6-2, 4-6, 3-3 when play ended. Lieb also did not finish his match against Bernstine, the score was 4-6, 6-4, 5-4 when play ended.
"It was a battle against a very good Virginia Tech team," said head coach Jeff Zinn. "They handled the ebbs and flow of the match better than we did. We had four matches go to three sets after winning the doubles point but couldn't get the necessary results that we wanted. These are the types of matches we need and hopefully we will learn from them. We don't have very long until tomorrowto play another talented and undefeated Alabama team. We will make some adjustments with strategy and hopefully come out with a win tomorrow."
"Great job to Virginia Tech for fighting back and getting the win," said associate head coach Paul Tobin. "Our guys played solid at #2 and #3 doubles to get the point. Single swas full of ups and downs as we were up a set in four of the matches and up double breaks in two of those. Virginia Tech got the momentum changed quickly and took the air out of our leads. We can only reflect on what we could have done differently and figure it out against a strong Alabama team tomorrow."
The Nittany Lions are now 1-1 on the season. Next up for the Lions is a match tomorrow Sunday, Jan. 28 against Alabama at 2:00 p.m.
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Doubles Results:
- (#14) Harper/Korsgaard (VT) def. De La Bassetiere/Lakoseljac (PSU) 6-2
- Sentay/Antonopoulos (PSU) def. Ribeiro/Bernstine (VT) 7-5
- Nemeth/Lieb (PSU) def. Kros/Donato (VT) 6-4
Singles results:
- (#68) Mitch Harper (VT) def. (#67) Constant De La Bassetiere (PSU) 6-1, 7-5
- (#80) Jason Kros (VT) def. Christian Lakoseljac (PSU) 0-6, 6-3, 6-2
- (#97) Alexandre Ribeiro (VT) def. Christos Antonopoulos (PSU) 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
- Henrik Korsgaard (VT) def. Alp Sentay (PSU) 6-3, 6-2
- Gabriel Nemeth (PSU) vs. Carlo Donato (VT) 6-2, 4-6, 3-3, unfinished
- Ben Lieb (PSU) vs. Chase Bernstine (VT) 4-6, 6-4, 5-4, unfinished