UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Despite several close singles matches, No. 36 Penn State men's tennis dropped a tough match to No. 1 Ohio State, 4-1 at the Indoor Tennis Center.
The Nittany Lions now sits with a 6-4 record while the Buckeyes improve to 16-0.
"I am very proud of my team tonight," head coach Jeff Zinn said. "I thought they battled extremely hard. There's a reason Ohio State is the No. 1 team in the country. There's no quit in them, they fight so hard. But I am really proud of my guys, if we keep playing like that we're going to be really good by the end of the year."
"To come out here and perform the way we did against the No. 1 team in the nation shows the kind of talent and perseverance these guys have," associate head coach Paul Tobin said. "All of the guys really stepped up today. Win or lose, I am proud of these guys."
DOUBLES
The Nittany Lions put up a strong fight in doubles but did not come out winning the point.
Christian Lakoseljac (King City, Ontario, Canada) and Christos Antonopoulos (Athens, Greece) couldn't pull out the win against No. 32 John McNally and Hunter Tubert in a close match, 6-4.
Ben Lieb (Newtown Square, Pa.) and Alp Sentay (Izmar, Turkey) were defeated in the No. 2 spot by the third-ranked doubles tandem in the country, Alex Kobelt and Kyle Seelig, 6-3.
The No. 7 pair of Constant De La Bassetiere (Reims, France) and Gabriel Nemeth's (Brasilia, Brazil) match against JJ Wolf and Martin Joyce went unfinished with a score of 5-4 in Penn State's favor.
The Buckeyes have yet to drop a doubles point this season.
SINGLES
Penn State battled hard in singles, but in the end, fell to the top-ranked Buckeyes.
Lakoseljac earned the Nittany Lions' only win of the match against No. 30 McNally, 6-2, 6-1. The victory marks Lakoseljac's second win over a ranked opponent this season.
No. 92 De La Bassetiere fell just short of defeating the top-ranked singles player in the nation, JJ Wolf. After winning the first set, 6-3, Wolf then answered with his own victory in the second, 6-3.
De La Bassetiere was up 4-3 in an intense third set before Wolf battled back and tied the score at 5-5. Despite De La Bassetiere having two match points throughout the last set, Wolf won the next two points to win the match and keep his singles record perfect at 13-0.
De La Bassetiere is only the second player this season to win a set over Wolf.
UP NEXT
The Nittany Lions will travel to the USTA National Campus is Orlando, Fla. to face Florida Gulf Coast on Wednesday, March 6 and UCF Friday, March 8. Both matches are slated to start at 6 p.m.
Doubles results:
1. #7 Constant De La Bassetiere/Gabriel Nemeth (PSU) vs. JJ Wolf/Martin Joyce (OSU) 5-4, unfinished
2. #3 Alex Kobelt/Kyle Seelig (OSU) def. Ben Lieb/Alp Sentay (PSU) 6-3
3. #32 John McNally/Hunter Tubert (OSU) def. Christian Lakoseljac/Christos Antonopoulos (PSU) 6-4
Singles Results:
1. #1 JJ Wolf (OSU) def. #92 Constant De La Bassetiere (PSU) 3-6, 6-3, 7-5
2. Christian Lakoseljac (PSU) def. #30 John McNally (OSU) 6-2, 6-1
3. #26 Kyle Seelig (OSU) def. Christos Antonopoulos (PSU) 6-2, 6-4
4. #69 Martin Joyce (OSU) def. Gabriel Nemeth (PSU) 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
5. Ben Lieb (PSU) vs. #91 Alex Kobelt (OSU) 7-5, 1-0, unfinished
6. Matt Galush (PSU) vs. Hunter Tubert (OSU) 1-6, 1-2, unfinished
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