Blacksburg, Va. – Penn State men's tennis picked up wins in eight out of 11 matches against William & Mary at day two of the Virginia Tech Invitational. The Nittany Lions won all four doubles matches as well as picking up wins in four singles battles.
Going into the final day of the tournament, the Blue and White have accumulated 55 total individual points in head-to-head competition.
DOUBLES
In the No. 1 doubles match, the top-ranked pair of Constant De La Bassetiere (Reims, France) and Gabriel Nemeth (Brasilia, Brazil) defeated Volk/Vasser, 6-4, to earn themselves each six points.
The pair of Christian Lakoseljac (King City, Ontario, Canada) and Christos Antonopoulos (Athens, Greece) took down Bautil/Talcott, 6-2, at the No. 2 spot to register four points apiece.
At the No. 3 position, Alp Sentay (Izmar, Turkey) and Ben Lieb (Newtown Square, Pa.) earned a win over Pellerito/Ruo, 6-3, to add two points to their own individual totals.
To finish off doubles competition at the No. 4 slot, the duo of Zach Lieb (Newtown Square, Pa.) and Jordan Nickerson (Boca Raton, Fla.) came out on top against Kelly/Quiros, 7-6, to pick up a point each heading into singles competition.
SINGLES
To start things off at the No. 1 match, De La Bassetiere earned his second singles win of the tournament against Finbar Talcott, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3, to earn himself eight additional points. De La Bassetiere's point total now stands at 22, going into the final day of competition.
At the No. 2 spot, Lakoseljac was defeated by Sebastian Quiros, 6-4, 6-4. He ended the day with six total points.
Antonopoulos picked up a dominating victory in straight sets at the No. 3 slot, 6-2, 6-2, against Oren Vasser to earn six points. He now sits with 12 total individual points.
Nemeth picked up his second singles win against Chen Ruo, 6-2, 6-1, in the No. 4 match to earn five points and bring his total up to 17 points after day two.
In the No. 5 slot, B. Lieb dropped a tough decision to Jack Kelly, 6-2, 7-5. Going into day three, his point total stands at six.
Sentay lost a tough match to Daniel Pellerito at No. 6, 6-2, 7-5. Sentay brought his point total up to five points.
To end the day at the No. 7 spot, Nickerson defeated Michael Ruamthong, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. Nickerson's point total going into the final day of play stands at five.
There was no match at the No. 8 spot.
"I don't think we played as well as we did yesterday but our opponent had a lot to do with that," head coach Jeff Zinn said. "William & Mary is very well coached and they came back fighting after we took the doubles matches. Constant [De La Bassetiere] is quickly becoming one of the best players in the Big Ten and continues to lead the team with his stellar individual play. We need to finish this tournament on a good note."
"I am happy we got the win," said associate head coach Paul Tobin. "[William & Mary] competed well in singles and kept our guys in the points longer than we would have liked them to."
The Nittany Lions will square off against Middle Tennessee beginning Monday at 10 a.m. in the final day of competition.
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