Feb. 7, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; February 7, 2011 - The Penn State women's tennis team (1-1, 0-0) hosts the Bucknell Bison (0-2) and California (Pa.) Vulcans (2-0) in a doubleheader Tuesday at the Indoor Tennis Center, beginning at 2 p.m. Admission is free.
The Nittany Lions are coming off of their first victory of the season over the Pittsburgh Panthers, 6-1, at the Indoor Tennis Center, Jan. 26. Penn State hosts its first and only doubleheader of the season with the Bison at 2 p.m. and the Vulcans at 6 p.m.
Sophomore Petra Januskova (Ottawa, Canada) earned her second singles victory of the season as she defeated Pittsburgh's Elizabeth Adams, 6-2, 6-0. Januskova is currently the No. 59 ranked singles player in the ITA poll, and the No. 2 player in the Atlantic Region. Freshmen Carmen Sandor (Toronto, Canada) and Marie-Frederique Bedard (Montreal, Canada) earned their first singles victories in a dual match as they defeated Kimmy Borza and Jocelyn Lu, respectively. Also earning victories against the Panthers were sophomore Amy Simidian (Carlstadt, N.J.) and senior Denisa Zobeideh (Weston, Fla.).
Nittany Lions also cracked the ITA poll in doubles with Januskova and junior Fernanda Perrotta, (Buenos Aires, Argentina) who won their first match of the season over Pittsburgh's Elizabeth Adamns and Gabrielle Cantanzari, 8-3. Juniors Kristen Roth (Ardmore, Pa) and Maria Prishlyak (Kiev, Ukraine) are also ranked in the ITA poll, coming in a nine-way tie for No. 68.
Led by senior Lauren Lucido, the Bison advanced to their sixth consecutive Patriot League Championship in 2009-10 with a 14-7 record. Rebecca Helt is in her 13th season coaching the Bison and has spent the last eight seasons coaching both the men's and women's teams. She has a 134-113 record at the helm of the Bison women's team.
The California (Pa.) Vulcans are currently ranked No. 9 in the ITA poll in Division II and are first in the Atlantic Division. Sophomore Jutta Bornefeld is ranked sixth in singles and won the ITA Regional Championship for DII in the fall.
Big Ten play begins when the Nittany Lions travel to Columbus to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes on Fri., Februrary 11 at 2 p.m. Penn State will remain in Columbus as they take on William & Mary Sat., February 12 at 4 p.m., before returning to State College to host the Iowa State Cyclones on Sat., February 19 at 4 p.m.
--NITTANY LIONS--