April 9, 2011
EAST LANSING, Mich..; April 9, 2011 - The Penn State women's tennis team (6-11, 1-4) earned a thrilling 4-3 comeback victory over the No. 70 Michigan State Spartans after trailing 3-0, for their first Big Ten victory of the season. Sophomores Petra Januskova (Ottawa, Canada) and Amy Simidian (Carlstadt, N.J.) started the rally with victories in first and second singles. The victory was the first in the Big Ten for the Nittany Lions since a win over Michigan State on Apr. 4., 2009, and their first win over a ranked opponent since defeating No. 63 Iowa on Mar. 29., 2009.
"I'm so proud of how the team fought back. Marie battled under pressure and was so mentally tough today," said head coach Dawna Denny.
In doubles, the Nittany Lions got off to a slow start as Marie-Frederique Bedard (Montreal, Canada) and Simidian fell to Amy Barton and Marina Bohrer, 8-2, in first doubles. In second doubles, Freshman Carmen Sandor (Toronto, Canada) and junior Fernanda Perrotta (Buenos Aires, Argentina) fell to Nicole Herzon and Whitney Wilson, 8-6, to give the Spartans the doubles point. In third doubles, Januskova and senior Denisa Zobeideh (Weston, Fla.) defeated Olga Chernova and Katarina Lingl, 8-5.
In third singles, Sandor fell to Bohrer, 6-1, 6-0, to give the Spartans an early 2-0 lead. Perrotta was forced to retire in sixth singles to Dana Guentert, 6-3, 4-1 (ret.) to push the Spartans lead to 3-0.
The Nittany Lions would fight back however, as Januskova started the rally with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over No. 121 Amy Barton, 6-2, 6-1, in first singles, to tighten the gap to 3-1. Simidian continued the trend in second singles defeating Valentina Rusakova, 6-0, 6-4, to push the Lions within one. In fourth singles Zobeideh defeated Chernova, 6-3, 6-2, to tie the match at 3-3.
The match came down to fifth singles as Bedard faced off against Herzog in a tough back and forth battle. After losing in the first set, Bedard worked hard for the final two and defeated Herzon, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, to give the Nittany Lions a thrilling 4-3 victory.
Penn State will look for their second straight victory over a ranked opponent in Michigan as they take on the Wolverines tomorrow at 11 a.m. The Nittany Lions will then return home to host the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Fri., Apr. 15 at 5 p.m. followed by a match with the Wisconsin Badgers at 11 a.m. on Sun., Apr. 17.
--NITTANY LIONS--
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| 3 |
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4
|
Doubles |
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|
Barton/Bohrer |
8-2 |
#1 |
Bedard/Simidian |
|
|
Herzon/Wilson |
8-6 |
#2 |
|
Sandor/Perrotta |
|
Chernova/Lingl |
|
#3 |
8-5 |
Januskova/Zobeideh |
| Order of finish: 1, 2, 3 |
| Singles | ||||
|
#121 Borton |
#1 |
6-2, 6-1 |
Januskova | |
| Rusakova |
|
#2 |
6-0, 6-4 |
Simidian |
| Bohrer |
6-1, 6-0 |
#3 |
|
Sandor |
|
Chernova |
#4 |
6-3, 6-2 |
Zobeideh |
|
| Herzon |
|
#5 |
3-6, 6-3, 6-2 |
Bedard |
| Guentert |
6-3, 4-1 (ret.) |
#6 |
Perrotta |
|
| Order of finish: | 3, 6, 1, 2, 4, 5 | |||