Cambridge, Ma. – Although Penn State men's tennis came out strong winning the doubles point, it was not enough to pull out the win against Vanderbilt.
The Commodores emerged with the close 4-3 win to improve to 4-2 on the season and give the Nittany Lions a 3-2 record.
"I thought we played well enough to pull out the victory today," head coach Jeff Zinn said. "Ben Lieb played outstanding tennis and gave everything he had. Unfortunately the Vanderbilt player had a little more at the end and played flawlessly to close out the deciding match. These are the types of teams we need to beat in the future if we are going to reach our goals we set at the beginning of the season. Constant De La Bassetiere and Christian Lakoseljac have been playing very well at the top two positions. Constant beat an NCAA qualifier and Christian beat a player that was ranked extremely high in the juniors. They are giving us a great punch at the top of our lineup. We need everyone to play at that high level in their positions. Hopefully in our first home match we can achieve that goal."
"Can't get any closer than it did today," associate head coach Paul Tobin said. "We played two very tough teams on the road and the guys pushed themselves hard today. This was a nail biter that I wish went in the other direction."
DOUBLES
Ben Lieb (Newtown Square, Pa.) and Matt Galush (Cary, N.C.) earned the first doubles win for Penn State defeating Virtanen/Worst, 6-4. The No. 1 ranked pair of Constant De La Bassetiere (Reims, France) and Gabriel Nemeth (Brasilia, Brazil) clinched the doubles point with a victory over Klinger/Freeman, 7-5.
SINGLES
Although it came down to the wire in singles, the Nittany Lions could not come out with enough wins to beat the Commodores. First to get a win for the Blue and White was De La Bassetiere with a victory over Cameron Klinger in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1. Next was Christian Lakoseljac (King City, Ontario, Canada) with a dominating win over Maxwell Freeman, 6-4, 6-1. The match boiled down to the No. 6 spot between Lieb and Panu Virtanen. In a three-set battle, Virtanen came out on top, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.
UP NEXT
Penn State will have their home opener against Charlotte, Feb. 8 at 4:00 p.m.
Doubles results:
1. De La Bassetiere/Nemeth (PSU) def. Klinger/Freeman (VANDY) 7-5
2. Galush/Lieb (PSU) def. Virtanen/Worst (VANDY) 6-4
3. Rowe/Harwell (VANDY) def. Lakoseljac/Antonopoulos (PSU) 6-2
Singles results:
1. De La Bassetiere (PSU) def. Klinger (VANDY) 6-3, 6-1
2. Lakoseljac (PSU) def. Freeman (VANDY) 6-4, 6-1
3. Harwell (VANDY) def. Antonopoulos (PSU) 6-2, 6-2
4. Sisam (VANDY) def. Nemeth (PSU) 6-1, 6-4
5. Rowe (VANDY) def. Sentay (PSU) 6-2, 6-3
6. Virtanen (VANDY) def. Lieb (PSU) 5-7, 6-3, 6-3
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.