April 17, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa..; April 17, 2011 - The Penn State women's tennis team (6-13, 2-6) couldn't hold off the Wisconsin Badgers on Sunday as the Nittany Lions fell 4-3. After singles victories from sophomores Petra Januskova (Ottawa, Canada) and Amy Simidian (Carlstadt, N.J.), the Nittany Lions held a 3-1 lead but lost the next three points. Senior Denisa Zobeideh (Weston, Fla.) was honored before the game as the lone senior on the Penn State roster. The senior earned a singles victory with partner Januskova to help the Nittany Lions earn the doubles point.
Zobeideh started things off in doubles with partner Januskova as they quickly defeated Carlone Berner and Jessica Seyferth in second doubles, 8-3. The win gave the senior her 11th doubles match victory of the season and fourth in five games. In first doubles, Simidian and freshman Marie-Frederique Bedard (Montreal, Canada) fell to the tough pairing of Jenny Hois and Alaina Trgovich, 8-6, to tie the battle for the doubles point. The decision came down to third doubles as freshman Carmen Sandor (Toronto, Canda) and junior Fernanda Perrotta (Buenos Aires, Argentina) fought hard to defeat Nicky Stracar and Aleksandra Markovic, 8-5, to give the Nittany Lions the 1-0 lead.
Play moved to singles as Bedard fell to Wisconsin's Markovic, 6-1, 7-5, as the Badgers tied the match at 1-1. In first singles, Januskova beat Hois in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3, to improve her team leading win total to 13, and three of the last four. With the 2-1 lead, action moved to second singles as Simidian defeated Trgovich, 6-4, 6-3, to push the Nittany Lion lead to 3-1. Simidian and Trgovich met in the fall at the WMU Superchallenge, as Simidian won, 6-3, 6-4.
The Badgers wouldn't go away however, as Zobeideh and Stracar played a grueling three set match. Zobeideh battled hard throughout the third set but eventually fell, 6-1, 1-6, 6-4, to tighten the match to 3-2. In sixth singles, junior Maria Prishlyak (Kiev, Ukraine) fell in a back-and-forth match to Seyferth, 6-3, 6-3, to tie the match at 3-3.
With the match tied at 3-3, it came down to fourth singles and Sandor versus Berner. Sandor fell in the first set and trailed in the second 5-4 and 6-5 before winning each game to tie the set at 6-6. In the second set tiebreak, Sandor fought back from a 6-2 deficit to 6-4 before falling 6-4, 7-6 (4), to give the Badgers the match.
The Nittany Lions will travel to Indiana for their final matches of the season as they take on the Purdue Boilermakers on Sat., Apr. 23 at 12 p.m. followed by the Indiana Hoosiers on Sun., Apr. 24 at 11 a.m.
--NITTANY LIONS--
|
| 4 |
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3
|
Doubles |
||||
|
Hois/Trgovich |
8-6 |
#1 |
Simidian/Bedard |
|
|
Berner/Seyferth |
#2 |
8-3 |
Januskova/Zobeideh |
|
|
Stracar/Markovic |
|
#3 |
8-6 |
Sandor/Perrotta |
| Order of finish: 2, 1, 3 |
| Singles | ||||
|
Hois |
#1 |
6-1, 6-3 |
Januskova | |
| Trgovich |
|
#2 |
6-3, 6-4 |
Simidian |
| Stracar |
6-1, 1-6, 6-4 |
#3 |
|
Zobeideh |
|
Berner |
6-4, 7-6 (4) |
#4 |
|
Sandor |
| Markovic |
6-1, 7-5 |
#5 |
|
Bedard |
| Seyferth |
6-3, 6-3 |
#6 |
Prishlyak |
|
| Order of finish: | 5, 1, 2, 3, 6, 4 | |||