April 27, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; - The 11th seeded Penn State women's tennis team (4-18, 0-10 Big Ten) will square off with sixth seeded Purdue (16-5, 5-5) this Thursday at noon in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament. All matches will be held at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.
Last weekend, the Nittany Lions hosted No. 6 Northwestern and Wisconsin in their final home matches of the year. The powerhouse Wildcats defeated Penn State, 7-0, while the Badgers took home a 5-2 victory. Against Wisconsin, freshman Amy Simidian (Carlstadt, N.J.) picked up a singles win as she topped Alaina Trgovich in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3.
In doubles play against the Badgers, senior Lauren McCarthy (Danbury, Conn.) and junior Denisa Zobeideh (Weston, Fla.) cruised by Trgovich and Hannah Berner on the No. 2 court, 8-2. The sophomore duo of Maria Prishlyak (Kiev, Ukraine) and Michaela Stracar (Jericho, N.Y.) secured the doubles point for Penn State with an exciting 9-7 victory over Kathleen Saltarelli and Jessica Seyferth.
Purdue is currently ranked No. 52 in the nation. Sophomore Jennifer Rabot, the nation's No. 111 singles player, leads the Boilermakers with a 17-2 dual match record. Junior Bhavani Tirumurti is second with a 13-6 singles record, playing prodominently in the No. 3 slot. The doubles duo of Rabot and senior partner Michelle Sammons holds a 16-3 mark in first doubles this spring.
The Nittany Lions faced the Boilermakers in regular season play on February 5, dropping a 5-2 decision on the road in West Lafayette, Ind. Freshman Petra Januskova (Ottawa, Ontatio) topped Michelle Sammons in straight sets on the No. 1 court, 6-2, 6-4. In fifth singles, Simidian handled Imogen Golder, 6-1, 7-6.
The winner of Thursday's match will move on to face third seeded Illinois (14-8, 8-2 Big Ten) on Friday at 2 p.m.