Feb. 11, 2011
COLUMBUS, OHIO; February 11, 2011 - The Penn State women's tennis team, (3-2, 0-1) lost its Big Ten opener 6-1 to the No. 31 Ohio State Buckeyes (3-2, 1-0) on Friday in Columbus. Sophomore Amy Simidian (Carlstadt, N.J.) picked up the only point for the Nittany Lions with a second singles win.
The Buckeyes came out strong in second doubles as the No. 50 doubles pairing of Kelsey Haviland and Gabby Steele topped Simdian and freshman Carmen Sandor (Toronto, Canada), 8-3. Senior Denisa Zobeideh (Weston, Fla.) and sophomore Sarah Henderson (Bloomington, Ind.) fell to Kara Cecil and Noelle Malley, 8-5, in third doubles as Ohio State clinched the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead in the match. In a matchup of ranked teams in first doubles, No. 68 sophomore Petra Januskova (Ottawa, Canada) and junior Fernanda Perrotta were edged by No. 64 Paloma Escobedo and Cami Hubbs, 8-7.
Attention turned to singles play where Perrotta lost to Fidan Manashirova in fifth singles, 6-1, 6-2, to push OSU's lead to 2-0. Henderson was beaten by Hubbs in sixth singles, 6-2, 7-6, while Zobeideh was defeated by Steele, 6-3, 6-1, in fourth singles to clinch the win for the Buckeyes.
Sandor won the first set against Cecil in a tiebreaker, but dropped the next two sets in a 6-7, 6-3, 1-0 loss in third singles. Simidian earned the lone point for the Nittany Lions, as she defeated Ohio State's only ranked singles player, Haviland, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4. The win marked Simidian's fourth straight singles victory. In first singles, No. 59 Jasuskova was upset by Escobedo, 6-4, 7-6.
Penn State remains in Columbus to take on the William & Mary Tribe tomorrow at 4 p.m. The Nittany Lions will return to State College to take on the Iowa State Cyclones at 1 p.m. on Fri., Feb. 19 before hosting VCU on Fri, Feb. 25 at 5 p.m.
--NITTANY LIONS--
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