April 2, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; - After two road matches, the Penn State women's tennis team returns to Happy Valley this weekend to host Michigan State and No. 23 Michigan. The Nittany Lions face the Spartans in Saturday's "Code Blue" match at 11 a.m., followed by a bout against the No. 23 Wolverines on Sunday at 10 a.m. The first 75 fans at Saturday's match will receive a Code Blue t-shirt and the chance to win a Gatorade prize pack. Weather permitting, the matches will be played outdoors at the Sarni Tennis Center and admission is free.
Last time out, the Nittany Lions (4-12, 1-3 Big Ten) upset No. 63 Iowa, 4-3. Junior Lauren McCarthy (Danbury, Conn.) and sophomore Denisa Zobeideh (Weston, Fla.) defeated Lynne Poggensee-Wei and Kelcie Klockenga in second doubles, 8-3, for their seventh doubles win of the season. Seniors Leyla Morzan (Vancouver, British Columbia) and Dorothy Dohanics (Pittsburgh, Pa.) clinched the doubles point for the Lions with an 8-6 win over Alexis Dorr and Ally Majercik on the No. 3 court.
In singles action, McCarthy downed Dorr in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1. Zobeideh followed with an exciting 6-3, 7-6 (7-1) win over Poggensee-Wei in the No. 3 match-up. With the score tied at 3-3, Morzan clinched the victory for Penn State with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Majercik in sixth singles.
Michigan State is currently 8-10 overall and ranked tenth in the Big Ten with a 1-4 league record. The Spartans are coming off their first Big Ten win of the season after edging Wisconsin, 4-3. Freshman Elena Ivanova was named Big Ten Player of the Week this week after grabbed singles and doubles wins against the Badgers. The doubles tandem of Ivanova and senior Stephanie Kebler has won its last four matches and is ranked No. 75 in the nation.
Led by second-year head coach Ronnie Bernstein, the Michigan women's tennis team is ranked No. 23 in the nation with a 9-5 record and 4-1 in the Big Ten. The Wolverines' lone Big Ten loss came last weekend against No. 1 Northwestern, 6-1. Sophomore Denise Muresan comes to Happy Valley with a five-match singles winning streak. In conference play, Muresan is undefeated at 15-0. Senior Chisako Sugiyama has compiled 98 singles wins during her Wolverine career and only needs two more to tie Michigan's all-time singles win record at 100.
The Nittany Lions play their final two home matches of the season next weekend. The Lions take on Indiana on Friday, April 10 at 4 p.m., followed by a match against No. 40 Illinois on Sunday, April 12 at 11 a.m. Weather permitting; the matches will be played outdoors at the Sarni Tennis Center. Admission to all Penn State home matches is free.