ORLANDO, Fla. – In its first match of the USTA National Campus Collegiate Series, No. 36 Penn State men's tennis took down Florida Gulf Coast in convincing fashion 7-0, at the USTA National Campus.
The Nittany Lions improved their record to 7-4 while the Eagles now sit at 3-5.
"For our first match outside I'm pleased," head coach Jeff Zinn said. "We took care of business which was the goal. With some guys it's going to take longer to adjust to outside tennis but as the match went longer we got more comfortable. We will make some adjustments at tomorrow's practice and get ready for a really tough UCF team Friday night."
"It's always difficult to gauge how our first match outside will go, but we did really well against Florida Gulf Coast, who is used to these conditions all year," associate head coach Paul Tobin said. "We need to adjust in playing doubles outside, today was tighter than we would have liked. #49 UCF is certainly going to push us on its home court come Friday. We need to be ready."
DOUBLES
Penn State dominated in doubles competition, winning two of three matches with one going unfinished.
The No. 4 tandem of Constant De La Bassetiere (Reims, France) and Gabriel Nemeth (Brasilia, Brazil) took the win against Ruiz/Escobar, 6-4.
Ben Lieb (Newton Square, Pa.) and Matt Galush (Cary, N.C.) also got a win of their own, easily defeating Montes/Sakalauskas, 6-1.
Christian Lakoseljac (King City, Ontario, Canada) and Christos Antonopoulos' (Athens, Greece) match against Tebet/Ramirez ended with a score of 5-5.
SINGLES
Penn State won all six singles matches to secure the first shutout win for the team this season. Five of the six victories were decided in just two sets.
Lone freshman Jordan Nickerson (Roca Raton, Fla.) was the first to get a singles win for the Blue and White, easily taking down Pedro Maciel, 6-0, 6-1. Nickerson now has a 2-0 record in the No. 6 spot.
Antonopoulos followed with a win of his own over Felipe Ramirez in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2.
No. 101 De La Bassetiere continued his singles dominance earning the match-clinching win against Juan Montes, 6-0, 6-3. He now sits with a 7-2 singles record.
Nemeth improved his record to 3-2 at the No. 4 slot with a win over Feliksas Sakalauskas, 6-2, 6-4.
Lakoseljac defeated Felipe Ramirez in a third set tie-breaker, 1-6, 6-4, 10-7. Lakoseljac now sits with the best singles record on the team at 8-2 and has won his past four matches.
Lieb clinched the shutout victory, getting the win in straight sets over Marcelo Tebet, 7-6 (1), 6-3. Lieb has now won five matches in a row and six of his last 10.
UP NEXT
Penn State will finish out its time in the USTA National Campus Collegiate Series against UCF on March 8 at 6 p.m.
Doubles results:
1. #4 Constant De La Bassetiere/Gabriel Nemeth (PSU) def. Ruiz/Escobar (FGCU) 6-4
2. Ben Lieb/Matt Galush (PSU) def. Montes/Sakalauskas (FGCU) 6-1
3. Christian Lakoseljac/Christos Antonopoulos (PSU) vs. Tebet/Ramirez (FGCU) 5-5, unfinished
Singles Results:
1. #101 Constant De La Bassetiere (PSU) def. Juan Montes (FGCU) 6-0, 6-3
2. #110 Christian Lakoseljac (PSU) Felipe Ramirez (FGCU) 1-6, 6-4, 10-7
3. Christos Antonopoulos (PSU) def. Felipe Escobar (FGCU) 6-1, 6-2
4. Gabriel Nemeth (PSU) def. Feliksas Sakalauskas (FGCU) 6-2, 6-4
5. Ben Lieb (PSU) def. Marcelo Tebet (FGCU) 7-6 (1), 6-3
6. Jordan Nickerson (PSU) def. Pedro Maciel 6-0, 6-1
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