UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Christian Lakoseljac (King City, Ontario, Canada) has earned his second Big Ten Player of the Week honor along with his first ITA singles ranking of the season at No. 110.
Both the award and ranking comes after Lakoseljac defeated No. 30 John McNally of Ohio State in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1, in the team's latest contest on March 1. Lakoseljac handed McNally only his third loss of the season and second in two sets.
The victory marks Lakoseljac's second win over a ranked opponent of the season. The first came against No. 114 Rafael Wagner to clinch the championship win at the Jerry Simmons Invitational at LSU. His performance at the tournament earned Lakoseljac's his first conference honor of the season.
Lakoseljac now sits with a 7-2 record and 1-0 Big Ten singles record. The last Penn State player to earn multiple Athlete of the Week honors was Leonard Stakhovsky in 2014.
"What a terrific and well-deserved honor for Christian to be selected as Big Ten Player of the Week twice," head coach Jeff Zinn said. "He has been working extremely hard on his tactics and shots that have been difficult for him in the past. It all came together this past week when he played a complete match."
"That's awesome to get the honor again," Lakoseljac said. "I've been working hard and it's been paying off. Just have to stay focused and hopefully we can pull out some wins in Florida."
Also in the rankings, Penn State stayed at No. 36 in ITA team rankings and the pair of Constant De La Bassetiere (Reims, France) and Gabriel Nemeth (Brasilia, Brazil) moved up to No. 4 from No. 7 in doubles rankings. De La Bassetiere now sits at No. 101 in singles rankings as well.
Find the full Big Ten release, here.
Find the full list of ITA singles rankings, here.
Find the full list of ITA doubles rankings, here.
Find the full list of ITA team rankings, here.
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.
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.