April 27, 2018
IOWA CITY, Iowa - The No. 49 Penn State men's tennis team faced No. 8 Illinois today at the University of Iowa in the quarterfinal round of the Big Ten Championship. The Nittany Lions fell to the Fighting Illini, 4-0.
In doubles, the Lions battled tough but Illinois took the win on courts one and three. Alp Sentay (Izmar, Turkey) and Christos Antonopoulos (Athens, Greece) fell to Alex Brown and Caleb Chakravarthi, 6-1. Ben Lieb (Newtown Square, Pa.) and Christian Lakoseljac (King City, Ontario) were defeated by Aleks Vukic and Vuk Budic, 6-4. Constant De La Bassetiere (Reims, France) and Gabriel Nemeth's (Brasilia, Brazil) match went unfinished.
In singles, De La Bassetiere put up a solid fight against Hiltzik, but ultimately fell 6-4, 6-1. No. 83 Brown defeated Nemeth in a tight match, 6-3, 6-4. Antonopoulos battled hard against Clark, but was outmatched, 6-4, 6-4.
Three matches went unfinished. Lakoseljac extended his match to the third set after a big win in the second, before it ended. Ben Lieb tied up his second set while Sentay was down a game in the second at the time play concluded.
"I'm very proud of the guys today," said associate head coach Paul Tobin. "We knew the wind was going to be a factor with both sides dealing with 30 mph winds, but you can't expect a top-10 team to just roll over. The overall score does not reflect individual battles and key opportunities to turn things around. As always, the doubles point was crucial going into singles and with the wind factor, we could have played better."
Today's match against Illinois will conclude the Nittany Lions run in the Big Ten Championship this year. The Lions record sits at 16-12, with a 6-7 record in the Big Ten.
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. Brown/C. Chakravarthi (ILL) def. A. Sentay/C. Antonopoulos (PSU) 6-1
2. C. De La Bassetiere/G. Nemeth (PSU) vs. Z. Clark/A. Kovacevic (ILL) 2-5, unfinished
3. A. Vukic/V. Budic (ILL) def. B. Lieb/C. Lakoseljac (PSU) 6-4
Order of finish: 1, 3
Singles Results:
1. Christian Lakoseljac (PSU) vs. No. 16 Aleks Vukic (ILL) 2-6, 7-5, 0-3, unfinished
2. Aron Hiltzik (ILL) def. Constant De La Bassetiere (PSU) 6-4, 6-1
3. No. 83 Alex Brown (ILL) def. Gabriel Nemeth (PSU) 6-3, 6-4
4. Zeke Clark (ILL) def. Christos Antonopoulos (PSU) 6-4, 6-4
5. Alp Sentay (PSU) vs. Aleks Kovacevic (ILL) 3-6, 4-5, unfinished
6. Ben Lieb (PSU) vs. Caleb Chakravarthi (ILL) 3-6, 4-4, unfinished
Order of finish: 3, 2, 4