UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Constant De La Bassetiere (Reims, France) set a new Penn State men's tennis best after receiving the fourth Big Ten Athlete of the week award of his career in a single season. The praise follows two singles wins this past weekend at then-No. 14 Illinois and Northwestern.
Leonard Stakhovsky held the previous program record when he won three conference honors in the 2014 season. Between De La Bassetiere and teammate Christian Lakoseljac (King City, Ontario, Canada), the team has won six Big Ten weekly awards this season.
In addition, De La Bassetiere, Lakoseljac and the team all rose in ITA rankings.
CONSTANT SUCCESS
De La Bassetiere went undefeated in singles this past weekend, including a win over then-No. 14 Illinois' sixth-ranked Aleks Kovacevic, 6-0, 3-6, 6-3. He handed Kovacevic his first loss of the season, as he was 14-0 heading into the match. The win also marks the highest ranked foe De La Bassetiere has earned a victory against in his career.
De La Bassetiere also defeated Dominik Stary of Northwestern, 7-6 (2), 6-4.
The senior captain is now 17-3 at the No. 1 singles position and has won his last three matches. He is also 9-1 over ranked opponents and has defeated the last seven he has faced.
De La Bassetiere is 7-2 in the Big Ten and 9-1 in his last 10 contests.
"It is a huge honor to be Big Ten Athlete of the Week again and become the first Penn State player to get it four times in a season. Last weekend was a tough one on the road but I think we have learned a lot from those close matches against big teams like Illinois. We need to finish strong with two big matches this weekend."
NITTANY LIONS IN THE RANKINGS
De La Bassetiere jumped up 12 spots to reach No. 25 in ITA singles rankings after his solid performance. This is his personal all-time high in the rankings.
Lakoseljac rose four spots to No. 101 after earning a straight-sets win over Northwestern's Antonioni Fasano, 6-0, 6-4.
After splitting the weekend, with a 3-4 loss to then-No. 14 Illinois and a 4-2 win against Northwestern, the Nittany Lions jumped up one spot to No. 34 in ITA team rankings.
The pair of De La Bassetiere and Gabriel Nemeth (Brasilia, Brazil) now sit at No. 34 in ITA doubles rankings.
FULL BIG TEN RELEASE
ITA SINGLES RANKINGS
ITA TEAM RANKINGS
ITA DOUBLES RANKINGS
NEXT UP
The Blue and White will return to Happy Valley to finish off their season against Indiana on Friday, April 19 at 5 p.m. and Purdue on Sunday, April 21 at 12 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.