CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Penn State men's tennis (0-1, 0-1 B1G) dropped its first match of the season to No. 6 Illinois (4-1, 2-0 B1G) Friday night in the Atkins Tennis Center. The Fighting Illini emerged with a 5-2 win.
"I have good points and bad points to take away from the match," head coach Jeff Zinn said. "Bad points being we gave away too many chances against a really good team. Deuce points are the key in college tennis and we let too many get away in both doubles and singles. Good points are that Christian and our new freshmen, Miko Eala, played really well. Winning those positions gives us a base to build on for Sunday. Hopefully we can correct some of the mistakes at practice tomorrow and come out ready to play on Sunday."
"Pretty sure this is a first, opening up against #6 ranked Illinois on the road," associate head coach Paul Tobin said. "Even though we haven't played a dual match in almost a year, the guys competed tough. Doubles came down to 1 break on #1 and #3, and #1 was up a break and on serve. Taking four points from Illinois was a tough feat; hats off to Christian and freshman Miko for putting points on the board."
DOUBLES
Illinois took doubles matches on courts two and three to clinch the first point of the match.
Christian Lakoseljac (King City, Ontario, Canada) and Ondrej Ctverak (Brno, Czechia) lost in a competitive match to Zeke Clark and Alex Bancila, 4-6.
Tim Ruetzel (Munich, Germany) and Charl Morgan's (Johannesburg, South Africa) double match against Kweisi Kenyatte and Siphosothando Montsi went unfinished after the Nittany Lions fell short on courts two and three.
SINGLES
The Fighting Illini earned wins on the first four courts in singles to solidify their win.
Christian Lakoseljac recorded his first singles win of the season and put the first Nittany Lion point on the board, defeating No. 15 Alex Brown in straight sets 7-6, 6-3.
Miko Eala (Philippines/Manacor, Spain) battled in three sets against Kweisi Kenyatte to capture his first career win 7-5, 4-6 (9).
UP NEXT
The Nittany Lions will travel to Evanston, Ill. to take on No. 25 Northwestern on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 11:30 a.m. ET.
RESULTS
Illinois 5, Penn State 2
Doubles results:
1. Kweisi Kenyatte/Siphosothando Montsi (ILL) vs. Tim Ruetzel/Charl Morgan (PSU) 4-5, unfinished
2. Hunter Heck/Alex Brown (ILL) def. Alp Sentay/Bora Sengul (PSU) 6-3
3. Zeke Clark/Alex Bancila (ILL) def. Christian Lakoseljac/Chikaya Sato (PSU) 6-4
Order of finish: 2, 3, unfinished
Singles results:
1. Christian Lakoseljac (PSU) def. #16 Alex Brown (ILL) 7-6 (12), 6-3
2. #82 Siphosothando Montsi (ILL) def. Bora Sengul (PSU) 7-5, 6-2
3. Zeke Clark (ILL) def. Charl Morgan (PSU) 6-0, 6-1
4. Miko Eala (PSU) def. Kweisi Kenyatte (ILL) 7-5, 4-6, 11-9
5. Hunter Heck (ILL) def. Tim Ruetzel (PSU) 6-3, 6-1
6. Alex Bancila (ILL) def. Sam Bossem (PSU) 6-2, 6-2
Order of finish: 3, 5, 6, 2, 1, 4
Check GoPSUSports.com for coverage of the Penn State men's tennis team during the season. Follow the team on Twitter @pennstateMTEN, Instagram @pennstatemtennis and on Facebook at facebook.com/pennstatemenstennis.