April 13, 2018
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 46 Penn State men's tennis team faced Northwestern today at the Sarni Tennis Center. The Lions defeated the Wildcats, 6-1.
In doubles, the point came down to court two when the Lions clinched. Constant De La Bassetiere (Reims, France) and Gabriel Nemeth (Brasilia, Brazil) swiftly defeated Dominik Stary and Ben Vandixhorn, 6-3. Christian Lakoseljac (King City, Ontario) and Ben Lieb (Newtown Square, Pa) knocked off Jason Seidman and Nick Brookes, 7-5. Alp Sentay (Izmar, Turkey) and Matt Galush (Cary, N.C.) fell to Chris Ephron and Antonioni, 6-4.
The Lions went 5-1 in singles. De La Bassetiere faced off against Stary and came out victorious, 6-4, 6-3. Lakoseljac was in a tightly contested match against Brookes and ultimately won, 6-1, 4-6, 7-5. Nemeth defeated Vandixhorn, 7-6, 6-4. Ben Lieb found his momentum in the third set knocking off Fasano 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Sentay had a strong match against Seidman, winning 7-5, 7-5. Zach Lieb (Newtown Square, Pa.) fell to Ephron, 6-2, 6-3.
"First and foremost I want to throw a shout out to all the alums that came out for the match today and for the whole weekend with alumni weekend," said head coach Jeff Zinn. "It was great support from a lot of tremendous young men that came back to support this year's team. It means a lot to me. Secondly, Ben Lieb has had a rough season, but he hasn't given up and he keeps fighting out there. We put him in a really tough position today to move up and play a very good player from Northwestern. If I'm giving out game balls, Ben Lieb gets it for both singles and doubles. He played amazing. Overall, the team played great. We knew our backs were against the wall with one of our players out and injured. Everybody else had to step up and do just a little bit better. They always do, but today especially. I'm really proud of the whole team. It's a proud day for Penn State men's tennis."
"The guys really took care of business today and with Christos [Antonopoulos] out we were concerned," said associate head coach Paul Tobin. "The guys spent a lot of time watching and studying their past matches and our focus was playing inside the baseline and not backing up. It paid off. It was a good win against a well-coached team."
The Lions are now 14-9 (4-4 B1G) on the season and remain undefeated at home. The Lions are back in action Sunday, April 15 the team takes on No. 7 Illinois at 12:00 p.m.
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. C. De La Bassetiere/G. Nemeth (PSU) def. D. Stary/B. Vandixhorn (NORTH) 6-3
2. C. Lakoseljac/B. Lieb (PSU) def. J. Seidman/N. Brookes (NORTH) 7-5
3. C. Ephron/A. Fasano (NORTH) def. A. Sentay/M. Galush (PSU) 6-4
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
Singles Results:
1. Constant De La Bassetiere (PSU) def. Dominik Stary (NORTH) 6-4, 6-3
2. Christian Lakoseljac (PSU) def. Nick Brookes (NORTH) 6-1, 4-6, 7-5
3. Gabriel Nemeth (PSU) def. Ben Vandixhorn (NORTH) 7-6 (5), 6-4
4. Ben Lieb (PSU) def. Antonioni Fasano (NORTH) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
5. Alp Sentay (PSU) def. Jason Seidman (NORTH) 7-5, 7-5
6. Chris Ephron (NORTH) def. Zach Lieb (PSU) 6-2, 6-3
Order of finish: 6, 1, 3, 2, 5, 4