April 11, 2010
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Freshman Amy Simidian (Carlstadt, N.J.) nabbed her fourth singles win of the spring season today in a 6-1 loss to Michigan State (7-13, 1-6 Big Ten). Simidian and senior partner Sarah Lotto (Toronto, Ontario) also picked up a doubles win for Penn State (4-13, 0-6 Big Ten). In three of six singles matches, the Nittany Lions forced three sets.
Michigan State opened the match winning two of three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead. The Spartans then jumped ahead to 3-0, but Simidian brought Penn State within two with her singles win. Michigan State pulled away to a 6-1 victory with wins in the final three singles matches of the day.
In doubles action, the Spartans took an early advantage as Manon Noe and Christine Milliken topped the sophomore tandem of Maria Prishlyak (Kiev, Ukraine) and Michaela Stracar (Jericho, N.Y.), 8-5. Following on the No. 2 court, senior Lauren McCarthy (Danbury, Conn.) and Denisa Zobeideh (Weston, Fla.) fell by a narrow 8-6 margin to Elena Ivanova and Michaela Silesova, securing the doubles point for the Spartans.
In the final doubles match of the day, Lotto and Simidian battled with Nicole Herzog and Whitney Wilson on the No. 1 court. The Nittany Lion duo came away with a hard-fought 9-7 victory.
With Michigan State leading 1-0, the match moved into singles play. Freshman Sarah Henderson (Auckland, New Zealand) fell to Amy Barton on the No. 5 court, 6-2, 6-3. Next in third singles, Prishlyak was edged by Wilson in the first set, 7-6(0), and eventually fell 6-4 in the second.
Simidian cut into Michigan State's 3-0 lead with a comeback win over Silesova on the No. 1 court, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. However, Herzog held on to defeat McCarthy in the No. 2 match-up, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3, to clinch the match victory for Michigan State.
With Michigan State leading 4-1, Zobeideh dropped the first set of fourth singles to Ivanova, 6-2. The Nittany Lion junior rallied in the second set, but lost, 7-5. In the final match of the day, Stracar fell in three sets to Renata de Paiva, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.
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. The Nittany Lions return home the following weekend for their final two regular season matches. They will face Northwestern on Saturday, April 24 at 11 a.m. and Wisconsin on Sunday, April 25 at 10 a.m. The matches will be held outdoors at the Sarni Tennis Center, weather permitting.
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