Oct. 19, 2011
University Park, Pa. - The Penn State women's tennis team will travel to Norfolk, Va., for the ITA Women's Atlantic Regional this weekend. The tournament will run from Friday the 21st through Tuesday the 25th.
The Nittany Lions are among 25 teams competing in the tournament. Penn State will be the only team representing the Big Ten in Norfolk.
The tournament begins with a 32-player qualifying draw on Friday. Of the 32-player qualifier, eight will advance to the main draw. Fernanda Perrotta (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and Carmen Sandor (Toronto, Canada) will represent the Nittany Lions in the qualifying round, with both of their matches slated for 9 a.m. Perrotta will face Virginia's Molly O'Koniewski and Sandor will play Jacqui Corba of George Washington.
The 64-player main draw will begin Saturday at 11 a.m. Several Nittany Lions are scheduled to compete in the main draw, including Chelsea Utting (Peachtree City, Ga.), Marie Bedard (Montreal, Canada), Nina Sertic (Zagrab, Croatia) and Petra Januskova (Ottawa, Canada). Utting and Sertic are scheduled to play competitors that will advance from the qualifying round. Bedard will face Casey Robinson of St. Joseph's and Januskova will play Katelyn Stokes of Howard.
The tournament will also include a 48-team doubles draw beginning Friday. Bedard and Sandor are slated to play against Aurora Davis and Lauren Roy of St. Joseph's. Perrotta and Utting will also face a pair from St. Joe's, Devi Jadeja and Casey Robinson. Januskova and Sertic received a bye in the opening round of 64 and will either play U.M.B.C's Kim Berghaus and Carmen Jackman or Richmond's Melissa Kandinata and Elizabeth Sims in the round of 32.
The Nittany Lions have several players ranked highly in this weekend's tournament. Januskova is the eighth-seeded player in the main draw. In doubles, Januskova and Sertic are the ninth-ranked team.
Competing alongside the Nittany Lions in Norfolk will be Delaware, George Washington, Georgetown, Howard, James Madison, Liberty, Longwood, Marshall, Maryland, Morgan State, Navy, Norfolk State, Old Dominion, Pittsburgh, Richmond, St. Joseph's, Temple, Towson, U.M.B.C., Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth, Virginia Tech, West Virginia and William & Mary.