March 9, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; - During this week's spring break from class, the Penn State women's tennis team (3-8, 0-2 Big Ten) travels to Texas to take on Texas State on Wednesday at 11 a.m. and No. 22 SMU on Friday at noon. SMU is the seventh nationally ranked opponent Penn State has faced this spring.
Penn State hosted two home matches last weekend, resulting in a 7-0 conference loss to No. 21 Ohio State and a 4-3 win over Temple. Senior Lauren McCarthy (Danbury, Conn.) and freshmen Petra Januskova (Ottawa, Canada) and Amy Simidian (Carlstadt, N.J.) all collected singles wins in Saturday's match against Temple. Penn State also completed a doubles sweep against the Owls.
Texas State is currently 7-2 in spring play and is in the midst of a six-match win streak. The team is coming off a 5-2 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Senior Andrea Giraldo leads the way for the Bobcats with a 5-2 record in No. 1 singles. Freshman Melissa Hadad has jumped into an important role in the lineup, tallying a 5-3 record in second singles. Head coach Tory Plunkett is coming off her best season with the Bobcats and is currently in her sixth year.
Fourth-year head coach Lauren Meisner leads the No. 22 SMU Mustangs. The team is currently 12-2 after dropping a heartbreaking 4-3 decision to No. 33 Texas last week. Sophomore Marta Lesniak is ranked 59th nationally in singles and is currently a perfect 12-0 in the No. 1 spot for the Mustangs. Also undefeated in singles is sophomore Aleks Malyarchikova, who is 10-0 in second singles and 2-0 in third. The sophomore tandem leads the way in doubles play with a 6-2 record playing in the No. 1 spot.
Penn State is on the road against next weekend as it travels to New Jersey to take on Princeton on Saturday, March 20 at 2 p.m. The Nittany Lions return home Friday, April 2 to resume Big Ten play against Iowa at 5 p.m. and Minnesota on Sunday, April 4 at 11 a.m. Live statistics will now be available for all Penn State home matches on the women's tennis page at www.GoPSUSports.com