Baton Rouge, La. – Penn State men's tennis defeated LSU, 4-2, to win the Jerry Simmons Invitational Championship. The Nittany Lions won the doubles point along with three singles matches to earn the win.
The Blue and White also defeated the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 4-3, and USF, 4-2, on the way to the victory.
"I could not be any prouder of the boys today," head coach Jeff Zinn said. "They again represented Penn State so well. Every player, No. 1 through No. 6, played their heart out. Our doubles are going to be the key to success this year and we executed perfectly in that segment of the match."
"To come down here and do what these guys did is just first class," associate head coach Paul Tobin said. "They were dialed in from the beginning. Our doubles have never been better. Some of the guys were definitely tired from yesterday's long match, but they kept digging in and we got the win. Now, we need to take this momentum to Harvard and Vanderbilt next weekend."
DOUBLES
The Nittany Lions started day two off strong, going 2-1 in doubles. Christian Lakoseljac (King City, Ontario, Canada) and Christos Antonopoulos (Athens, Greece) were the first pair to get a win, defeating Bhatnagar/Watson, 6-2. To clinch the point, Ben Lieb (Newtown Square, Pa.) and Matt Galush (Cary, N.C.) earned a strong win over Monroe/Samardzic, 6-2.
The Nittany Lions went 3-3 in doubles throughout the tournament.
SINGLES
Penn State had a strong showing in singles, winning three matches to secure the victory. Gabriel Nemeth (Brasilia, Brazil) defeated Boris Kozlov in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3, to get things rolling for the squad. Alp Sentay (Izmar, Turkey) followed with a dominating win over Nikola Samardzic, 6-4, 6-3. In a thrilling three-set match with the pressure on, Lakoseljac defeated No. 114 Rafael Wagner, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, to clinch the championship win for the Blue and White.
NEXT UP
The team will next travel to Cambridge, Ma., to take on Harvard Feb. 2, and Vanderbilt Feb. 3.
Singles results:
1. Monroe (LSU) vs. De La Bassetiere (PSU) 7-6 (7-3), 1-4, unfinished
2. Lakoseljac (PSU) def. #114 Wagner (LSU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
3. Bhatnagar (LSU) def. Antonopoulos (PSU) 6-1, 6-1
4. Nemeth (PSU) def. Kozlov (LSU) 6-1, 6-3
5. Thomas (LSU) def. B.Lieb (PSU) 6-4, 6-4
6. Sentay (PSU) def. Samardzic (LSU) 6-4, 6-3
Doubles results:
1. Wagner/Thomas (LSU) def. De La Bassetiere/Nemeth (PSU) 6-1
2. Galush/B. Lieb (PSU) def. Monroe/Samardzic (LSU) 6-2
3. Lakoseljac/Antonopoulos (PSU) def. Bhatnagar/Watson (LSU) 6-2
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 Penn State Men's Tennis and follow our twitter @pennstateMTEN.