UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's tennis team dropped its match against Liberty. The squad battled in close matches, but ultimately fell 4-0.
DOUBLES
The No. 3 duo of Jack Martuccio and Alex Sterin played against Thando Longwe-Smit and Rodrigo Santiago Arraez. The Nittany Lions came back from a deficit early in the match to win in a tiebreak, 7-6(4).
At the No. 1 spot, Ari Cotoulas and Nolan Ranger took on Deji Thomas-Smith and Chase Robinson. The Blue and White duo played a long battle, but dropped their match in a tiebreaker, 7-6(12). Miko Eala and Stefan Simeunovic partnered together at No. 2, but fell 6-4 to Matija Samardzi and Romeo Hadzimehmedovic. Liberty took the doubles point.
SINGLES
Simeunovic played a back-and-forth match at the No.1 spot against Thomas-Smith, but fell 7-6(5), 7-5. At No. 2, Ranger dropped his match to Longwe-Smit, 6-3, 6-2. At the No.4 spot, Cotoulas faced Hadzimehmedovic, but fell 6-4, 6-2.
Martuccio took on Samardzic at No. 3, bringing the match to the third set. Martuccio was down 2-6, 6-4, 1-2 when his match was stopped. Sterin played at No.5 against Santiago Arraez and was trailing 4-3 in the first set. Playing at No. 6, Nadikude was down 4-1 against Robinson. All three matches went unfinished as the match was clinched by Liberty at this point.
UP NEXT
The Nittany Lions will host Old Dominion at the Indoor Tennis Center on Sunday, Feb. 18 at 2 p.m. Visit GoPSUsports.com for more updates on the Nittany Lions' season. Follow the team on Instagram @pennstatemtennis and on X @pennstateMTEN for more continued updates.
RESULTS
Doubles
1. Thomas-Smith/Robinson (LU) def. Cotoulas/Ranger (PSU), 7-6(12)
2. Samardzic/Hadzimehmedovic (LU) def. Eala/Simeunovic (PSU), 6-4
3. Martuccio/Sterin (PSU) def. Longwe-Smit/Santiago Arraez (LU), 7-6(4)
Order of Finish: 2,3,1
Singles
1. Thomas-Smith (LU) def. Simeunovic (PSU), 7-6(5), 7-5
2. Longwe-Smit (LU) def. Ranger (PSU), 6-3, 6-2
3. Matuccio (PSU) vs. Samardzic (LU), 2-6, 6-4, 1-2 uf.
4. Hadzimehmedovic (LU) def. Cotoulas (PSU), 6-4, 6-2
5. Sterin (PSU) vs. Santiago Arraez (LU), 3-4 uf.
6. Nadikude (PSU) vs. Robinson (LU), 1-4, uf.
Order of Finish: 4,2,1