Princeton, N.J. – Penn State men's tennis dropped a hard-fought battle to Princeton, 5-2. The Nittany Lions now sit with a record of 4-3, while the Tigers improved to 7-1.
"This one hurts because I thought we were the better team before we played today," head coach Jeff Zinn said. "We started very slowly and it cost us the doubles point. We need to practice better this week and turn it around."
"We seem to always split wins and losses with Princeton based on home court advantage," associate head coach Paul Tobin said. "Today started off slowly, but we had an opportunity at No. 2 singles to get up a set. Christian [Lakoseljac] had set point in the tiebreaker that could have changed the final outcome. Gabriel [Nemeth] split sets and I think would have pulled it out if his match was on the line."
DOUBLES
Penn State dropped the doubles point to Princeton in three highly anticipated matchups. No. 4 Constant De La Bassetiere (Reims, France) and Gabriel Nemeth (Brasilia, Brazil) dropped a tight match to No. 15 Ryan Seggerman/Rodriguez, 6-4. Christian Lakoseljac (King City, Ontario, Canada) and Christos Antonopoulos (Athens, Greece) lost another closely-contested match to Holden/Duo, 6-4. Matt Galush (Cary, N.C.) and Ben Lieb (Newtown Square, Pa.) were defeated by Poling/Barki, 6-1.
SINGLES
Although Penn State went into singles competition fighting to get the win, it wasn't enough to come out on top. De La Bassetiere got the first win for the Nittany Lions, earning a victory over Ryan Seggerman in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3. Lieb followed with his own strong win over Payton Holden, 6-4, 6-3.
Nemeth took Karl Poling to three sets, but lost in a close tiebreaker, 6-3, 4-6, 4-3 (10-6).
UP NEXT
Penn State will return home to face William and Mary Friday, Feb. 15 at 5:00 p.m.
Doubles results:
1. #15 Seggerman/Rodriguez (PU) def. #4 De La Bassetiere/Nemeth (PSU) 6-4
2. Holden/Duo (PU) def. Galush/Lieb (PSU) 6-1
3. Poling/Barki (PU) def. Lakoseljac/Antonopoulos (PSU) 6-4
Singles results:
1. De La Bassetiere (PSU) def. Ryan Seggerman (PU) 6-4, 6-3
2. Damian Rodriguez (PU) def. Lakoseljac (PSU) 7-6 (8), 6-2
3. Karl Poling (PU) def. Nemeth (PSU) 6-3, 4-6, 4-3 (10-6)
4. Bill Duo (PU) def. Antonopoulos (PSU) 6-0, 6-0
5. Davey Roberts (PU) def. Sentay (PSU) 6-1, 6-1
6. Lieb (PSU) def. Payton Holden (PU) 6-4, 6-3
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