UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Constant De La Bassetiere (Reims, France) won his third Big Ten Athlete of the Week honor, becoming the second student-athlete in program history to do so.
De La Bassetiere also rose to No. 31 in ITA singles rankings as well as Christian Lakoseljac (King City, Ontario, Canada) who reached No. 95.
In addition, Penn State climbed to an ITA team ranking of No. 30.
CONSTANT SUCCESS
The conference praise comes after a stellar weekend of competition for De La Bassetiere including two singles wins and two doubles wins.
The senior captain started off his tear on Friday, March 29 with a win over then No. 47 Josip Krstanovic of then No. 35 Minnesota, 6-3, 6-2. The win marks his seventh over a ranked opponent this season and his fourth Big Ten victory.
The No. 11 pair of De La Bassetiere and Gabriel Nemeth (Brasilia, Brazil) also earned a win over the Golden Gophers Jackson Allen/Eli Ogilvy, 6-3. The tandem is now a perfect 3-0 in conference play.
Against Wisconsin on Sunday, March 31, De La Bassetiere defeated Osgar O'Hoisin, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. The win improves his record to 14-2 at No. 1 singles. De La Bassetiere has now earned wins in his last eight contests.
In doubles against the Badgers, De La Bassetiere and Nemeth got a victory against the No. 25 duo of Jared Pratt/Osgar O'Hoisin, 7-5. The pair is now 11-4 at the No. 1 doubles spot. They also now have two wins over ranked opponents and have secured eight straight wins.
De La Bassetiere is the first Nittany Lions to earn three Big Ten Athlete of the Week awards since Leonard Stakhovsky in 2014.
"Nothing surprises me anymore with Constant and his performance," head coach Jeff Zinn said. "He's definitely one of the top players in the Big Ten and for that matter in the country. He just needs to stay consistent in his routine that got him here and realize that the bullseye is definitely on his back. He doesn't let the awards go to his head which is a testament to him and his work ethic. We couldn't have a better leader than Constant."
"It is a huge honor to be Big Ten Athlete of the Week for the third time," De La Bassetiere said. "I feel that we had two big weekends with the team and that we need to ride that momentum traveling to Iowa and Nebraska this weekend. We just need to keep doing what have been doing for the past month."
FULL BIG TEN RELEASE
NITTANY LIONS IN THE RANKINGS
De La Bassetiere also rose in the ITA singles rankings to No. 31, his personal all-time high.
Lakoseljac also jumped from No. 116 to No. 95 in ITA singles rankings. The 21-spot leap comes after a dominant weekend with three straight-set singles wins. The junior is now 15-2 in singles this spring and has a 5-0 Big Ten record. Lakoseljac is also on an 11-match win streak.
De La Bassetiere and Nemeth also came in at No. 8, a three-spot jump their previous rank of No. 11. The pair is 11-4 at No. 1 doubles and has won their last eight matches.
Penn State reached an ITA team rank of No. 30, up seven spots from last week. This is the first time the Nittany Lions have been ranked in the ITA top-30 since 2014 when the team reached No. 23.
FULL ITA SINGLES RANKINGS
FULL ITA DOUBLES RANKINGS
FULL ITA TEAM RANKINGS
NEXT UP
Penn State will travel to take on Iowa Friday, April 5 at 6 p.m. and Nebraska Sunday, April 7 at 1 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.