March 10, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; March 10, 2011 - The Penn State women's tennis team (3-8, 0-2) fell to the Tulane Green Wave 4-3, on Thursday. Senior Denisa Zobeideh (Weston, Fla.) and freshman Carmen Sandor (Toronto, Canada) earned singles points for the Nittany Lions. The loss marked the fifth 4-3 loss for the Nittany Lions in the last six matches.
In doubles action, the Nittany Lions got off to a tough start as Marie-Frederique Bedard (Montreal, Canada) and Zobeideh fell to Hila Elster and Elizabeth Hamlin, 8-3, in third doubles. Penn State came back strong in second doubles as junior Fernanda Perrotta (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and Sandor defeated Lindsay Dvorak and Emma Helisten, 8-5, to even the race for the doubles point. In the deciding match for the doubles point in first singles, sophomores Petra Januskova (Ottawa, Canada) and Amy Simidian (Carlstadt, N.J.) bested Mariam Kurdadze and Emma Levy, 8-6, to take the doubles point. Simidian and Januskova have won two straight since being paired together including a victory over the No. 9 doubles pairing of Illinois' Rachael White and Allison Falkin.
With the 1-0 lead, play moved to singles as Perrotta fell to Elster, 7-6 (3), 6-3, in fifth singles to tie the match at 1-1. In sixth singles, Henderson dropped two tough sets to Katherine Cecil, 6-4, 7-6 (4), to give the Green Wave a 2-1 lead. Sandor helped the Nittany Lions tie the match and regain momentum in fourth singles as she defeated Hamlin after dropping a tough first set, 5-7, 6-1, 6-4.
With the score knotted at 2, Januskova battled against Kurdadze but eventually fell in first singles, 7-5, 7-5, to put the match at 3-2. In second singles, Simidian faced off against Levy as the Green Wave had a chance to put the match away. After dropping the first set, 7-5, Simidian bounced back for a 6-3 win in the second set, but ultimately dropped a 6-2 decision in the deciding set to clinch the Green Wave win.
Zobeideh earned a victory over Dvorak, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, as she battled hard to earn the last set and the victory.
The Nittany Lions will continue their road trip as they travel to Huntington, W.Va. to take on Winthrop on Sat., Mar. 19, and Marshall on Sun., Mar. 20 before returning to Happy Valley to host Temple on Fri., Mar. 25, at 5 p.m.
Be sure to follow the Nittany Lions on Twitter @PSUwomenstennis
--NITTANY LIONS--
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| 4 |
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3
|
Doubles |
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|
Kurdadze/Levy |
|
#1 |
8-6 |
Januskova/Simidian |
|
Dvorak/Helisten |
#2 |
8-5 |
Perrotta/Sandor |
|
|
Elster/Hamlin |
8-3 |
#3 |
Zobeideh/Bedard |
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| Order of finish: 3, 2, 1 |
| Singles | ||||
|
Kurdadze |
7-5, 7-5 |
#1 |
|
Januskova |
| Levy |
7-5, 3-6, 6-2 |
#2 |
|
Simidian |
| Dvorak |
|
#3 |
6-3, 2-6, 7-5 |
Zobeideh |
|
Hamlin |
#4 |
5-7, 6-1, 6-4 |
Sandor |
|
| Elster |
7-6 (3), 6-3 |
#5 |
|
Perrotta |
| Cecil |
6-4, 7-6 (4) |
#6 |
Henderson |
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| Order of finish: | 5, 6, 4, 1, 2, 3 | |||