UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Constant De La Bassetiere (Reims, France) earned No. 42 Penn State men's tennis it's second Big Ten Athlete of the Week honor in a row and the first of his career. He comes after Christian Lakoseljac (King City, Ontario, Canada) who nabbed the award last week.
The praise comes after De La Bassetiere's stellar performance in the USTA National Campus Collegiate Series in Orlando, Fla. The senior captain went undefeated in both doubles and singles play.
Against Florida Gulf Coast on Wednesday, March 6, No. 4 De La Bassetiere and partner Gabriel Nemeth (Brasilia, Brazil) defeated the duo of Felipe Escobar/Mateo Ruiz, 6-4. De La Bassetiere earned a win over Juan Montes as well, 6-0, 6-3.
De La Bassetiere and Nemeth went on to get a victory over Trey Hilderbrand/Bogdan Pavel of No. 49 UCF, 7-6(5) in the teams' match on Friday, March 8. In his biggest win of the series, De La Bassetiere defeated No. 18 Gabriel Decamps in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, to mark his third win over a ranked opponent this season.
De La Bassetiere is now 8-2 at the No. 1 singles position and 7-4 at the No. 1 doubles position with Nemeth. He has won eight of his last 10 singles matches.
"Another great honor for Constant and the team," head coach Jeff Zinn said. "He works so hard and is so deserving of this award. I am a believer that if you work hard every day good things will happen. Constant epitomizes this statement and is truly a role model for the rest of the guys."
"It is a huge honor to receive that distinction from the Big Ten," De La Bassetiere said. "I think the whole team has been working hard and we need to keep up the good work."
FULL BIG TEN RELEASE
NEXT UP
The Nittany Lions will return to Big Ten action against Michigan State on Saturday, March 16 at 4 p.m. in East Lansing, Mich.
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