UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State men's tennis continued to find success in both doubles and singles competition during day three of the ITA Atlantic Regional Championships. The singles players remaining will start play Sunday at 9:30 a.m. in the round of 16, followed by quarterfinals.
Singles
Matt Galush (Cary, N.C.) retired in his match against Jared Isaacs of Duquesne in the round of 32.
Constant De La Bassetiere (Reim, France) defeated Josh Wilson of Liberty University in his first singles match of the tournament in dominating fashion, 7-6(5), 6-2. He then faced Paul Mendoza of James Madison University in the round of 16, who he beat 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 to round out his day. De La Bassetiere will go on tomorrow to play against the University of Virginia's Matthew Lord.
Gabriel Nemeth (Brasilia, Brazil) earned a win against Gonzalo Adis of James Madison University 6-1, 6-1. Nemeth then faced off against Eddie Gutierrez of Liberty University in the next round. He lost a tough second set 6-2, 7-6(5) to end his singles play in the tournament.
Christos Antonopoulos (Athens, Greece) won his match against Campbell Erwin of University of Richmond, who withdrew. He then played Damon Roberts of James Madison University in the next round and earned a win, 7-5, 6-1 to advance to Sunday. Next up, Antonopoulos will meet Alex Ribeiro of Virginia Tech in his second straight year of reaching the quarterfinals at the ITA Regionals tournament.
Zach Lieb (Newtown Square, Pa) lost a hard fought battle to Ribeiro in the round of 32, 7-5, 6-2.
Ben Lieb (Newtown Square, Pa) defeated Benjamin Barnett of George Washington University in straight sets 6-3, 6-3. B. Lieb ended his singles play with a loss to Aswin Lizen of the University of Virginia 6-2, 6-1.
"Christos [Antonopoulos] is having another good tournament," head coach Jeff Zinn said. "Constant [De La Bassetiere] is one of the top seeds and battled well today to get to the round of 16. Ben Lieb and Gabriel Nemeth are also each having outstanding tournaments and are still alive in doubles after an impressive run in their singles matches."
Alp Sentay (Izmar, Turkey) played in the consolation singles bracket, losing a tough match to Brice Polender of the University of Richmond 6-3, 6-4.
Doubles
The two Nittany Lion doubles pairings left in the tournament continued dominating, both making it into the semifinals that will take place on Sunday, following singles quarterfinals.Galush/B. Lieb earned a win against Ryan Goetz and Gianni Ross of the University of Virginia, 8-4.
De La Bassetiere/Nemeth also defeated their opponent, William and Mary's Brenden Volk and Oren Vasser, 8-7(3).
The two Blue and White teams will battle each other tomorrow to decide who will represent Penn State in the finals.
"We started off strong today, advancing to the semifinals in doubles," said associate head coach Paul Tobin. "Matt [Galush] and Ben [Lieb] played unbelievably against a top University of Virginia team and got a solid win. Unfortunately, they will have to play Constant [De La Bassetiere] and Gabe [Nemeth] in semifinals."
"It's not very often that you have to play your teammates, but we will make the most of an unusual situation," Zinn said.
Updates on the matches and all tournament information will be available on the tournament page.
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