March 18, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's tennis team (4-9, 0-2 Big Ten) travels to No. 27 Princeton (9-4, 0-0 Ivy League) this Saturday to face their seventh nationally ranked opponent of spring play. Seven of the Nittany Lion's nine remaining opponents are currently ranked in the country.
"After a great spring break, we are looking forward to making adjustments for Princeton," said head coach Dawna Prevette.
The Nittany Lions were in Texas last week where they came away with a 5-2 win over Texas State and a 7-0 loss at No. 33 SMU. Penn State completed a doubles sweep against the Bobcats. Additionally, freshman Amy Simidian (Carlstadt, N.J.) came away with a straight-set win over Gabriela Rojas 6-1, 6-0 as sophomore Maria Prishlyak (Kiev, Ukraine) topped Saskia Kruse on the No. 4 court, 6-1, 6-2.
Freshman Petra Januskova (Ottawa, Ontario) clinched the match victory with a 6-2, 6-1 No. 1 singles victory over Melissa Hadad. Also coming away with a win was senior Lauren McCarthy (Danbury, Conn.), who hung on to beat Maria Perez, 6-1, 7-5, in third singles.
The No. 27 Princeton Tigers are coming off three straight wins over ranked opponents and have won five of seven matches this season against ranked rivals. Sophomore Hilary Bartlett is ranked No. 70 nationally in singles and competes primarily in the No. 1 spot for the Tigers. Bartlett and junior partner Taylor Marable are the nation's No. 28 doubles duo. Head coach Megan Bradley is in her first season leading the Tigers.
This is the 20th meeting between Penn State and Princeton. The Nittany Lions are 4-15 all-time against the Tigers. The teams last faced each other during the 2006 season, as Penn State came away with a tight 4-3 victory at home.
The Nittany Lions return home Friday, April 2 to resume Big Ten play against No. 35 Iowa at 5 p.m. and No. 55 Minnesota on Sunday, April 4 at 11 a.m. Live statistics are available for all Penn State home matches on the women's tennis page at www.GoPSUSports.com