UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – No. 47 Penn State men's tennis (8-5, B1G 1-1) will host three home matches against No. 16 Michigan (10-3, B1G 1-0) Friday at 5 p.m. and a double-header against Cornell (8-7, IVY 0-0) and JMU (11-5, CAA 2-1) Sunday at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Prior to the start of the Nittany Lion's doubleheader on Sunday, the women's team will host Nebraska in its Big Ten home opener at 9 a.m.
"We know we have our work cut out for us because Michigan is always one of the best teams in the Big Ten and in the nation," head coach Jeff Zinn said. "We want to be in the top tier of the Big Ten and the only way to get there is to beat teams like Michigan. It will be a great match and we hope to play our best just as I'm sure they are hoping to play their best at our place."
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LAST TIME OUT
Penn State earned its first Big Ten road win of the season against Michigan State, 7-0. After winning the doubles point in convincing fashion, the Nittany Lions dominated in singles competition, winning all six matches, including five in just two sets.
No. 116 Christian Lakoseljac (King City, Ontario, Canada) continued his hot-streak, defeating Ivan Rakic over the weekend in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1. He has now won his last six matches to earn the top singles record on the team of 10-2 in the No. 2 spot. Lakoseljac has won eight of his last ten contests.
CONSTANT SUCCESS
No. 44 Constant De La Bassetiere earned Big Ten Athlete of the Week honors for the second week in a row and a top-50 ITA ranking following his dominant play this past weekend, defeating No. 91 Jack Winkler of Michigan State, 6-2, 6-4. He is now 9-2 at the No. 1 singles position for the Blue and White.
De La Bassetiere is now 4-1 over ranked opponents this season, including wins over No. 26 Mitch Harper of Virginia Tech, No. 70 Luca Keist of Charlotte and No. 18 Gabriel Decamps of UCF.
The senior captain has won his last three matches and eight of his last 10. He has also secured victories in eight out of nine wins in just two sets.
De La Bassetiere is the first Nittany Lion to earn consecutive weekly conference awards since Leonard Stakhovsky did in the 2015 season. His ITA singles ranking of No. 44 in the nation marks the first time a Penn State singles player has cracked the top-50 list since Stakhovsky achieved the honor on Feb. 10, 2016.
LOOKING INTO THE WOLVERINES
Michigan has had a strong spring season, earning wins over two top-20 teams.
The Wolverines last win came against Purdue, in non-conference competition. They shut the Boilermakers out, 4-0. Michigan's only Big Ten contest of the season so far was against Michigan State, when they came out on top, 6-1.
The Wolverines have a lone ranked singles player on their roster in No. 46 Mattias Siimar. Siimar is 6-2 at No. 1 singles and has won his last six matches. He is also 8-1 in doubles, overall.
The Nittany Lions have a 9-27 all-time record against the Wolverines. The last meeting between the two teams came in the 2018 season when No. 8 Michigan defeated Penn State 4-2.
INSIDE THE BIG RED
Cornell will be looking to eclipse its ninth win of the season against Penn State. The Big Red went 1-2 at the Oracle Collegiate Challenge last weekend. The team was on a five-match win streak before getting shut out by Southern California, 4-0, on March 15.
The Big Red's roster features two ranked singles players in No. 24 David Volfson and No. 113 Alafia Ayeni. Additionally, Cornell's roster also contains the ranked doubles pairing of No. 34 Volfson/Daniel Soyfer.
Penn State has an all-time record of 12-29 against Cornell. The teams' last meeting came last season with the Big Red coming out on top, 4-2.
SCOUTING THE DUKES
JMU is coming straight off a 6-1 loss at the hands of VCU on Wednesday, March 20. The Dukes' last win came against Delaware last weekend, 4-3.
The Nittany Lions are a perfect 5-0 all-time against the Dukes. The last meeting between the two teams was last season when the Nittany Lions emerged victorious, 6-1.
James Madison will face Navy Saturday, March 23 on the road before coming to Happy Valley.
NEXT UP
Penn State will host another trio of home matches next weekend. The Nittany Lions will face No. 18 Minnesota Friday, March 29 at 5 p.m. before taking on Wisconsin and St. Bonaventure in a doubleheader on Sunday, March 31 at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.
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.