Men’s Tennis Opens Spring Season at Old Dominion

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State men’s tennis team begins its 2022 campaign on the road at Old Dominion. The Nittany Lions face off against the Monarchs in both club’s season openers on Sunday, Jan. 16 at 1 p.m. ET.   

“It’s always exciting to start off a new year with a quality opponent,” said head coach Jeff Zinn. “Old Dominion has been a dominant team these past few years and been consistently ranked as one of the top #50 teams in the country. They have a talented roster and we are going to have to come out with our best stuff to beat them. We have a talented roster ourselves and it will come down to a few points that will determine the winner. The interesting part about the match is that we are doing it with the Penn State Women’s team. We tried to have the match played simultaneously but couldn’t pull it off because of the number of indoor courts.  But we will play back to back with them and it will be a first for both teams.”

FOLLOW ALONG 

Old Dominion: Live Stats

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SCOUTING THE NITTANY LIONS 

Penn State is heading into its 11th season under the guidance of head coach Jeff Zinn. Coach Zinn, one of the winningest coaches in Division I men’s tennis, is 144-111 as Penn State’s head coach.  

Losing Second Team All-Big Ten Honoree Christian Lakoseljac and veteran Christos Antonopoulos, Zinn added experience in the form of graduate transfer Malik Bhatnagar to the roster. Miko Eala, who went 12-5 last season, returns for his sophomore season, along with Charl Morgan and Bora Sengul.  

INSIDE THE MONARCHS 

Old Dominion concluded its fall season with four nationally ranked players. Leading the Monarchs are the doubles tandem of Luca Maldoner and Nicola Vidal who enter the spring season ranked 29th. The doubles pairing won the ITA Atlantic Super Regional in the fall. 

In singles, ODU’s Francois Le Tallec is ranked 64th, while Younes Lalami holds the 91st spot. Le Tallec won the ITA Atlantic Super Regionals singles title this past fall.  

Penn State took on Old Dominion in the Liberty Hidden Dual in the fall. The Nittany Lions came out of the matchup with a doubles sweep and a 4-4 record in singles. 

UP NEXT 

Penn State will next have a road match against Cornell on Jan. 30 before heading back to University Park for a doubleheader home opener vs. Cleveland State and…