April 19, 2009
EVANSTON, Ill.; - In its last regular season match of the year, the Penn State women's tennis team fell to No. 1 Northwestern today, 7-0. The Nittany Lions drop to 5-17 overall and 2-8 in the Big Ten while Northwestern moves to 22-1 on the year and 10-0 in the conference.
The Nittany Lions earn the No. 9 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and will face No. 8 seed Minnesota on Thursday at 10 a.m. in Madison, Wisconsin. The winner of the Penn State-Minnesota match will take on No. 1 seed Northwestern on Friday at 11 a.m.
The Wildcats opened up the match with a 1-0 lead after sweeping doubles play. In singles action, Northwestern came out on top on all six courts to take the 7-0 win over the Nittany Lions.
Northwestern's Keri Robison and Maria Mosolova came out strong in No. 2 doubles, opening the match with an 8-0 win over senior Leyla Morzan (Vancouver, British Columbia) and sophomore Denisa Zobeideh (Weston, Fla.). Following in first singles, juniors Sarah Lotto (Toronto, Ontario) and Lauren McCarthy (Danbury, Conn.) put up a fight against Georgia Rose and Lauren Lui, but fell 8-3 as Northwestern clinched the doubles point. Senior Dorothy Dohanics (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and freshman Maria Prishlyak (Kiev, Ukraine) dropped an 8-3 decision to Elena Chernyakova and Samantha Murray in the No. 3 bout.
With Northwestern leading 1-0, the match moved into singles. The Nittany Lions squared off against nationally ranked singles players on three of six courts. In fifth singles, Prishlyak was defeated by Robison in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0. Zobeideh followed on the No. 2 court with a 6-1, 6-1 loss to No. 47 Murray.
No. 117 Lauren Lui topped Dohanics in the No. 3 bout, 6-0, 6-2, to grab the decisive fourth point and clinch the match for Northwestern. Following on the No. 4 court, Morzan fell to Nazlie Ghazal, 6-1, 6-0.
Next in sixth singles, Lotto hung with Stacey Lee in both sets, but was defeated, 6-3, 6-3. In the final match of the day, McCarthy hung with No. 22 Rose throughout first singles before falling, 6-2, 6-4.
The Nittany Lions are done with regular season play and will begin preparation for this week's Big Ten Tournament. The Wisconsin Badgers will host the tournament in Madison, Wisc. from Wednesday, April 22 through Sunday, April 26.
No. 1 Northwestern 7, Penn State 0
Doubles
1. Georgia Rose/Lauren Lui (NU) def. Lauren McCarthy/Sarah Lotto (PSU) 8-3
2. Keri Robison/Maria Mosolova (NU) def. Leyla Morzan/Denisa Zobeideh (PSU) 8-0
3. Elena Chernyakova/Samantha Murray (NU) def. Dorothy Dohanics/Maria Prishlyak (PSU) 8-3
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3
Singles
1. No. 22 Georgia Rose (NU) def. Lauren McCarthy (PSU) 6-2, 6-4
2. No. 47 Samantha Murray (NU) def. Denisa Zobeideh (PSU) 6-1, 6-1
3. No. 117 Lauren Lui (NU) def. Dorothy Dohanics (PSU) 6-0, 6-2
4. Nazlie Ghazal (NU) def. Leyla Morzan (PSU) 6-1, 6-0
5. Keri Robison (NU) def. Maria Prishlyak (PSU) 6-0, 6-0
6. Stacey Lee (NU) def. Sarah Lotto (PSU) 6-3, 6-3
Order of Finish: 5, 2, 3, 4, 6, 1