April 10, 2010
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The Penn State women's tennis team (4-12, 0-5 Big Ten) fell to the No. 3 squad in the nation today, dropping a 7-0 decision to Michigan (15-3, 5-0 Big Ten) in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines are the 11th nationally ranked team the Nittany Lions have faced this spring.
Michigan took an early lead as it swept the doubles competition. Following in singles play, the Wolverines won on all six courts to take the 7-0 victory.
In third doubles, Tania Mahtani and Denise Muresen topped sophomores Maria Prishlyak (Kiev, Ukraine) and Michaela Stracar (Jericho, N.Y.), 8-1. Following on the No. 2 court, Mimi Nguyen and Michelle Sulahian halted senior Lauren McCarthy (Danbury, Conn.) and junior Denisa Zobeideh's (Weston, Fla.) doubles win streak, as the Wolverine pair won 8-1 and secured the doubles point for Michigan.
Freshman Amy Simidian (Carlstadt, N.J.) and senior Sarah Lotto (Toronto, Canada) fell to No. 36 Whitney Taney and Rika Tatsuno, 8-2, completing the Michigan doubles sweep.
With the Wolverines leading 1-0, the match moved into singles. Zobeideh fell to Tatsuno on the No. 4 court, 6-0, 6-2, followed by a Lotto loss in sixth singles against Sulahian, 6-2, 6-2. Nguyen clinched the match victory for Michigan with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Prishlyak in third singles, putting her team ahead 4-0.
Following in second singles, McCarthy was topped by Taney in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1. Mahtani extended Michigan's lead to 6-0 as she defeated freshman Sarah Henderson (Auckland, New Zealand) on the No. 5 court, 6-1, 6-1.
In the final match of the day, No. 25 Muresan handled Simidian in the first set of first singles, 6-1. Simidian hung with her nationally ranked opponent throughout the second set, but eventually fell by a narrow 7-5 margin.
The Nittany Lions travel to East Lansing, Mich. tomorrow to face Michigan State at 10 a.m. Penn State is on the road again next weekend at Indiana on Saturday, April 17 at 11 a.m., then at Illinois the following day at noon.
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nguyen | 6-2, 6-1 | #3 | Prishlyak | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tatsuno | 6-0, 6-2 | #4 | Zobeideh | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mahtani | 6-1, 6-1 | #5 | Henderson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sulahian | 6-2, 6-2 | #6 | Lotto | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Order of finish: | 4, 6, 3, 2, 5, 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||