Nov. 6, 2011
Kalamazoo, Mich. - The Penn State women's tennis team finished its fall tournament schedule on a high note. Petra Januskova(Ottawa, Canada) was named the singles tournament champion and the Nittany Lions won six out of seven matches in the last round of singles play at the Western Michigan Super Challenge today. The round robin style tournament featured three rounds of singles and doubles play over the course of the weekend.
Januskova capped off a stellar fall in which she compiled a 20-5 record by winning the WMU Super Challenge singles title for the second consecutive season. The junior went 3-0 in her matches over the weekend and never lost a set. In today's match, she cruised by Nini Sujashvili of Western Michigan, 6-1, 6-0 to win the crown. In her previous singles matches, Januskova beat Louisville's Julia Fellerhoff, 6-3, 6-2, and easily defeated DePaul's Gia McKnight, 6-1, 6-1.
Januskova wasn't the only Nittany Lion to find success on the court today against opponents from Western Michigan. Carmen Sandor (Toronto, Canada) bested Caroline Aleck, 6-2, 6-1 and Marie-Frederique Bedard(Montreal, Canada) escaped a close match from April Kerr, 6-4, 7-6 (2).
Three Nittany Lions were pushed to three sets today, but each Penn State player came out victorious. Chelsea Utting (Peachtree City, Ga.) defeated Maggie Remynse, 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (8). Fernanda Perrotta (Buenos Aires, Argentina) lost the first set against Jill Pastunink, 3-6, but bounced back to win the next two, 7-5, 1-0 (7). Nina Sertic(Zagrab, Croatia) also had to overcome a first set loss. The senior lost a close first set to Maria Nivia 5-7, but eventually won the next two, 6-2, 1-0 (8).
Kristen Roth(Ardmore, Pa.) was the only Nittany Lion without a victory today; she was bested by Western Michigan's Kathleen Hawkins, 8-2.
"I am proud of the way the team fought today," said head coach Dawna Denny. "We didn't play our best tennis, but we mentally found a way to answer the bell. The team was determined throughout the entire weekend."
The WMU Super Challenge marked the end of the fall season for the Nittany Lions. They will kick off their regular season when they travel to Hawaii on Jan. 5th.