March 12, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; - The Penn State women's tennis team will head to Florida this weekend to take on South Florida on Friday at 2 p.m. and Central Florida on Saturday at 2 p.m.
The Nittany Lions are back on the road after a home loss to then-No. 66 Wichita State on March 7. Freshman Michaela Stracar (Jericho, N.Y.) made her second appearance of the season for the Lions, picking up a come-from-behind win against Laryssa Ferreira in sixth singles, 3-6, 6-1, 10-4. In fourth singles, freshman Maria Prishlyak (Kiev, Ukraine) battled with Torrie Browning throughout the second set, but came up short, 6-1, 7-6(8).
Senior Dorothy Dohanics (Pittsburgh, Pa.) leads the Lions with five singles wins this season. On Feb. 28 against then-No. 37 Ohio State, Dohanics defeated the Buckeyes' Angela DiPastina in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4. In doubles action, freshman Monika Mical (Stalowa Wola, Poland) and junior Sarah Lotto (Toronto, Ontario) have notched three wins this season. Against Oklahoma on Feb. 20, the pair edged Ana-Maria Constantinescu and Maria Kalashnikova, 8-7 in the No. 1 match-up.
Led by head coach Agustin Moreno, the USF Bulls are 2-7 this season. In their last match, USF upset No. 35 Ohio State, 5-2. The Bulls have been playing without two of their top players throughout most of the spring. Sophomore Janette Bejlkova, who compiled a 17-0 record in the No. 1 position as a freshman, has been out with a stress fracture and is not expected to return for another month. Sophomore Irene Rehberger recently became eligible to play after sitting out the first six matches in accordance with NCAA rules after transferring from Spain.
Central Florida is 7-4 after defeating Tulane on Tuesday, 4-3. All of the team's losses were against ranked opponents, three of which were No. 13 or higher. The pairing of sophomore Jenny Frisell and senior Elvira Serrot is 6-0 in doubles play with two of their wins coming against ranked doubles teams. UCF has a young roster, with freshmen Andrea Yacaman, Alexis Rodriguez and Christy Core as the top three singles players. Head coach Stephanie Nickitas is in her second year with the Knights and led the team to a 12-9 record in 2008.
The Nittany Lions return home next week to host Lehigh at the Penn State Indoor Tennis Center on Thursday, March 19 at 4 p.m. Admission to the match is free. The Lions will be on the road again for a Big Ten match-up at Minnesota on Friday, March 27 at 6:30 p.m.