March 24, 2018
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The No. 45 Penn State men's tennis team faced No. 8 Michigan today at the Varsity Tennis Center in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Wolverines defeated the Lions, 5-2, in a tightly contested match.
The Lions took the doubles point after two strong wins. Christian Lakoseljac (King City, Ontario) and Matt Galush (Cary, N.C.) knocked off Connor Johnston and Myles Schalet, 6-3. Constant De La Bassetiere (Reims, France) and Ben Lieb's (Newtown Square, Pa.) 7-6 (4) win against Runhao Hua and Carter Lin in tiebreak clinched the doubles point for the Lions. Alp Sentay (Izmar, Turkey) and Christos Antonopoulos (Athens, Greece) battled tough against Alex Knight and Mattias Siimar but were defeated, 6-2.
In singles, Antonopoulos was the lone win taking the match against Schalet, 7-5, 6-4. No. 117 De La Bassetiere faced off against No. 27 Hua and was defeated in a match tiebreak, 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (7). Lakoseljac was knocked off against No. 5 Knight, 6-1, 6-1. Ben Lieb was outmatched by Lin, 6-1, 6-2. Michigan's Siimar defeated Galush, 6-1, 6-2. Alp Sentay was outplayed by Davis Crocker, 6-3. 6-0.
Penn State men's tennis alumnus Adam Steinberg, class of 1989, is the head coach of the Michigan Wolverines. During his time at Penn State, Steinberg was an All-Time Letterwinner.
"Michigan does a great job creating that college tennis energy and we certainly came out fighting," said associate head coach Paul Tobin. "We started off strong taking the doubles point, Constant and Ben playing together for the first time came back from double breaks. In singles, several guys were nursing injuries and I think that made the difference in some courts. It's going to be a quick turnaround as we head to Wisconsin later this week."
The Lions are now 11-7 (1-2 B1G) on the season. The team is back in action Friday, March 30 when they take on Wisconsin at 7 p.m. in Madison, Wisc.
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!
Doubles Results:
1. A. Knight/M. Siimar (MICH) def. A. Sentay/C. Antonopoulos (PSU) 6-2
2. C. Lakoseljac/M. Galush (PSU) def. C. Johnston/M. Schalet (MICH) 6-3
3. C. De La Bassetiere/B. Lieb (PSU) def. R. Hua/C. Lin (MICH) 7-6 (4)
Singles Results:
1.No. 27 Runhao Hua (MICH) def. No. 117 Constant De La Bassetiere (PSU) 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (7)
2. No. 5 Alex Knight (MICH) def. Christian Lakoseljac (PSU) 6-1, 6-1
3. Christos Antonopoulos (PSU) def. Myles Schalet (MICH) 7-5, 6-4
4. Carter Lin (MICH) def. Ben Lieb (PSU) 6-1, 6-2
5. Mattias Siimar (MICH) def. Matt Galush (PSU) 6-1, 6-2
6. Davis Crocker (MICH) def. Alp Sentay (PSU) 6-3, 6-0