Jan. 26, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; January 26, 2011 - The Penn State women's tennis team (1-1) earned its first victory of the season in dominating fashion defeating the Pittsburgh Panthers, 6-1, Wednesday night.
"I was proud of the way the girls competed today and it was definitely an improvement. Pittsburgh came out and fought hard and I think we gave them everything we had," said head coach Dawna Denny.
The Nittany Lions won all three doubles matches over the Panthers and never looked back. In third doubles, senior Denisa Zobeideh (Weston, Fla.) and freshman Carmen Sandor (Toronto, Canada) swept Pittsburgh's Karma Parbhu and Brittney Russell, 8-0.
The No. 68-ranked doubles pairing of sophomore Petra Januskova (Ottawa, Canada) and junior Fernanda Perrotta (Buenos Aires, Argentina) defeated Elizabeth Adams and Gabrielle Cantanzari, 8-3, to clinch the doubles point for the Lions. In second doubles, freshman Marie-Frederique Bedard (Montreal, Canada) and sophomore Amy Simidian (Carlstadt, N.J.) bested Pittsburgh's Joecyln Lu and Kimmy Borza, 8-4.
In second singles, Simidian emphatically defeated Pittsburgh's Cantanzari, 6-2, 6-0. Januskova, ranked No. 59 in singles, earned her second straight victory overpowering Pittsburgh's Elizabeth Adams, 6-2, 6-0.
Bedard earned her first dual match victory as a Nittany Lion and clinched the win for Penn State as she won in straight sets over Lu, 6-1, 6-4. In a long and tough contest, Sandor also won her first dual match as she overcame five set points in the second set to edge Pittsburgh's Borza, 6-3, 7-5.
In fifth singles, Denisa Zobeideh bested Pittsburgh's Karma Prabhu, 6-3, 6-0. Perrotta fell in a tough third set to Pittsburgh's Brittney Russell, 1-6, 6-4, 11-9 in sixth singles. In an exhibition, Maria Prishlyak (Kiev, Ukraine) defeated Pittsburgh's Taylor Washington, 8-0.
The Nittany Lions are now 15-0 all time against the Panthers with the last meeting coming in the 2000-01 season.
Penn State remains home as they host a doubleheader on Tues., February 8 versus Bucknell and California (Pa.). Big Ten play begins when the Nittany Lions travel to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus on Fri., February, 11 at 2 p.m.
--NITTANY LIONS--