Jan. 23, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; - In today's non-conference regular season opener, the Penn State women's tennis team handled Bucknell, 6-1. The Nittany Lions are now 13--0 all-time against the Bison.
"I am happy with the team, we definitely took care of business today," said head coach Dawna Prevette. "We want to continue on this path of improvement throughout the season."
Penn State took an early 1-0 lead after winning two of three doubles matches. Making her Nittany Lion debut, freshman Stephanie Tarle (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and sophomore partner Maria Prishlyak (Kiev, Ukraine) fell to Dara Dwojewski and Dumitrita Iepuras in third doubles, 8-4.
The senior tandem of Lauren McCarthy (Danbury, Conn.) and Sarah Lotto (Toronto, Canada) picked up a doubles point for the Lions with an 8-5 on the No. 2 court over Tania Varela and Lauren Lucido. Following in second doubles, sophomore Michaela Stracar (Jericho, N.Y.) and freshman Sarah Henderson (Auckland, New Zealand) secured the doulbes point for Penn State with an 8-4 victory over Dara Dwojewski and Carlin Calcaterra.
In singles play, Lotto was leading Lucido 4-1 in the first set of No. 2 singles when Lucido was forced to retire due to injury. Following in third singles, Prishlyak took an early lead as she won the first set over Iepuras, 6-2. Iepuras answered in the second set with an early 1-0 lead, but Prishlyak stormed ahead to win 6-1 and take the straight-set victory.
With the Nittany Lions leading 3-0, Henderson fell behind 0-1 to open the first set on the No. 4 court, but never looked back on her way to a 6-1, 6-1 victory. Her singles point gave Penn State a 4-0 lead and sealed the match victory for the Lions.
Stracar followed on the No. 5 court, handling Bucknell's Lauren Rottkamp in the first set, 6-0. Rottkamp kept the score close at 3-2 in the second before Stracar pulled ahead to nab a 6-2 win. Following in sixth singles, Bucknell earned its first point of the day as Calcaterra defeated Tarle, 6-1, 6-1.
In the longest match of the day, Bucknell's Varela had no answer for McCarthy in the first set of No. 1 singles, as she fell, 6-0. The Bison standout hung around in the second, trailing McCarthy 2-1, 3-2, 4-3 and 5-4 throughout the set and eventually taking a 6-5 lead. McCarthy answered to tie the score at 6-6, but eventually dropped the set, 6-7(5). She bounced back in the tiebreaker to put Varela away with a 10-3 win, giving the Nittany Lions their sixth point of the day.
Tomorrow marks the first road trip of the season for the Nittany Lions, as they travel to Bethlehem, Pa. to take on Lehigh at 3 p.m. The Lions are back at home on Friday to take on the Zips of Akron at 5 p.m. at the Penn State Indoor Tennis Center. Admission to all home matches is free.
Penn State 6, Bucknell 1
Doubles Competition
Lotto/McCarthy (PSU) def. Varela/Lucido (Bucknell), 8-5
Henderson/Stracar (PSU) def. Dwojewski/Calcaterra (Bucknell), 8-4
Tuzhikova/Iepuras(Bucknell) def. Prishlyak/Tarle (PSU), 8-4
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles Competition
Lauren McCarthy (PSU) def. Tania Varela (Bucknell), 6-0, 6-7(5), 10-3
Sarah Lotto (PSU) def. Lauren Lucido (Bucknell), 4-1 (retired)
Maria Prishlyak (PSU) def. Dumitrita Iepuras (Bucknell), 6-2, 6-1
Sarah Henderson (PSU) def. Dara Dwojewski (Bucknell), 6-1, 6-1
Michaela Stracar (PSU) def. Lauren Rottkamp (Bucknell), 6-0, 6-2
Carlin Calcaterra (Bucknell) def. Stephanie Tarle (PSU), 6-1, 6-1
Order of Finish: 2,3, 4, 5, 6, 1