University Park, Pa. – Looking to improve from its 0-2 record, Penn State men's tennis will welcome Cleveland State (1-1) for its home opener on Thursday, Jan. 30 at 6 p.m. at the Indoor Tennis Center. This will mark the first contest of an eight-match home stretch for the Nittany Lions.
The Blue and White own a 3-0 all-time record against the Vikings. The two teams last met in 2017 and the Nittany Lions earned the 7-0 shutout victory.
"We can't wait to get back on the court again and compete," head coach Jeff Zinn said. "We need matches and having the players perform under adverse conditions. We try as much as we can in practice to simulate deuce points but there's nothing like the real deal. Hopefully we can correct what went wrong this past weekend."
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LAST TIME OUT
Penn State traveled to Winston-Salem, N.C. to compete at ITA Kickoff Weekend, Jan. 24-25.
The Nittany Lions first fell to Kentucky, 4-1, after dropping the doubles point and struggling in singles. Freshman Charl Morgan picked up his first collegiate win at the second singles spot in the lineup.
East Tennessee State downed the Blue and White, 4-2. Penn State won the closely contested doubles point before failing to close the match out in singles. On court four, Gabriel Nemeth was the only player to win his match. Freshman Chikaya Sato's match on court five went unfinished.
The No. 33 ranked senior doubles pair of Christian Lakoseljac and Christos Antonopoulos have yet to be defeated this spring, going 2-0 at the top lineup spot.
SCOUTING THE VIKINGS
In their first match of the season, Cleveland State was shutout by the Wildcats, 7-0, only winning one doubles match. The Vikings earned their first and so far only win of the season against Toledo, 5-2.
The team's lineup features a lone ranked singles player in senior Nico Mostardi. He comes in at No. 65 and has an overall singles record of 1-1.
NEXT UP
The Nittany Lions will continue their homestand, welcoming Buffalo and Mount St. Mary's for doubleheader action on Saturday, Feb. 8.
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.