April 26, 2018
IOWA CITY, Iowa- The No. 49 Penn State men's tennis team advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2018 Big Ten Championships after dominating Purdue, 4-0. The Nittany Lions are the No. 7 seed in the tournament, while the Boilermakers sat at No. 10.
In doubles, the Lions quickly took the matches on court one and three to win the point. Alp Sentay (Izmar, Turkey) and Christos Antonopoulos (Athens, Greece) upset No. 75 Athell Bennett and Gergely Madarasz, 6-4. Ben Lieb (Newtown Square, Pa.) and Christian Lakoseljac (King City, Ontario) knocked off Stephan Koenigsfest and Maksymilian Raupuk, 6-3. Gabriel Nemeth (Brasilia, Brazil) and Constant De La Bassetiere's (Reims, France) match went unfinished against Mateo Julio and Dominik Sochureck, 5-3.
The Lions easily took three wins in singles with the other three matches going unfinished. De La Bassetiere clinched the match for the Lions after outplaying Julio, 6-3, 7-6. Nemeth swiftly defeated Koenigsfest, 6-3, 6-0. Ben Lieb took down Javier Rodriguez, 6-4, 7-5.
Lakoseljac was up in a tiebreak against No. 102 Madarasz, 7-6, 6-6 (4-1), when the match ended. Antonopolous and Sentay were both down in their matches, but were finding momentum for the wins at the conclusion.
"It's always tough because we just played Purdue last week at their place and it was an absolute battle royale," said head coach Jeff Zinn. "It feels good to come out here and play them again with a few different matchups. I thought we played a little bit better today. We were more focused and that's always a good start. The first match gets the jitters out in the Big Ten tournament and then you can see how you will do in the quarterfinals and keep moving on."
"It was good to get the first round over with and start focusing on Illinois," said associate head coach Paul Tobin. "In previous years, we competed well against Illinois so I think we have as good a chance as anyone to upset. We played very well in doubles this time against Purdue. The guys knew that we let it slip by last time and that was not going to happen again. Everybody stepped up in singles with only three sets dropped in all six matches."
This win advances the Lions to the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Championships. The tournament continues tomorrow afternoon, April 27, at 3:00 p.m. ET against No. 2 seed Illinois. The matches will continue being played at the University of Iowa. Last time Penn State faced Illinois the Lions were defeated, 4-0. The Nittany Lions have never won a Big Ten Tournament.
"Illinois is so good, a top-10 team," said Zinn. "It's a team we like to play against and we have a nice rivalry against them. They're such a storied program and it makes us play better because we know they're a really good team and we have to play at their level to beat them."
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Doubles Results:
1. C. Antonopoulos/A. Sentay (PSU) def. No. 75 A. Bennett/G. Madarasz (PUR) 6-4
2. G. Nemeth/C. De La Bassetiere (PSU) vs. M. Julio/D.Sochureck (PUR) 5-3, unfinished
3. B. Lieb/C. Lakoseljac (PSU) def. S. Koenigsfest/M. Raupuk (PUR) 6-3
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3
Singles Results:
1. Christian Lakoseljac (PSU) vs. No. 102 Gergely Madarasz (PUR) 7-6, 6-6 (4-1), unfinished
2. Constant De La Bassetiere (PSU) def. Mateo Julio (PUR) 6-3, 7-6
3. Gabriel Nemeth (PSU) def. Stephan Koenigsfest (PUR) 6-3, 6-0
4. Christos Antonopoulos (PSU) vs. Maksymilian Raupuk (PUR) 6-7 (4), 3-4, unfinished
5. Alp Sentay (PSU) vs. Athell Bennett (PUR) 6-3, 4-6, 1-2, unfinished
6. Ben Lieb (PSU) def. Javier Rodriguez (PUR) 6-4, 7-5
Order of finish: 3, 6, 2