Feb. 12, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; - After two consecutive road trips, the Penn State women's tennis returns to Happy Valley this weekend to host No. 34 VCU on Friday at 5 p.m. and No. 39 Denver Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Pizza will be given out between singles and doubles during the match-up with VCU. Both matches will be held at the Penn State Indoor Tennis Center and admission is free.
"We're excited about the opportunity to host two ranked teams," said head coach Dawna Prevette.
The Nittany Lions are coming off a tough 7-0 loss at then-No. 45 Marshall last weekend. Junior Lauren McCarthy (Danbury, Conn.) and sophomore Denisa Zobeideh (Weston, Fla.) earned a No. 2 doubles win over the Thundering Herd's Deanna Bailey and Isabell Raich, 8-5. Also last weekend, the Lions put up a fight against then-No. 56 South Alabama before the Jaguars slipped by for a narrow 4-3 win. Freshman Monika Mical (Stalowa Wola, Poland) picked up a No. 1 singles win over Parijo Maloo, 6-3, 3-0 (retired). In the No. 2 singles spot, freshman Maria Prishlyak handled Sylvanie Spangenberg in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1.
The VCU Rams are currently 5-3 with a No. 34 national ranking. The Rams are coming off a 5-2 win over Penn on Feb. 7. VCU finished the 2008 season with an 18-6 record and a trip to the NCAA first round. With no seniors on this year's roster, the team is led by junior Laura Burns, who is 9-1 on the season. Freshman Ana Bara has compiled a 10-6 record playing in the No. 1 spot.
The Denver Pioneers return their entire team from last year, which earned a school best 23-3 record and a Sun Belt Conference title. Senior Mallory Voelker and junior Ute Schnoy are leading this year's squad with 6-0 records during spring play. The No. 39 Pioneers are coming off a 7-0 win over Texas Tech on Feb. 8.
Following this weekend's home matches, the Lions are in Happy Valley again next weekend with matches against Oklahoma on Friday, Feb. 20 at 5:00 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 22 at 11:00 a.m. against Purdue.