Jan. 19, 2012
University Park, Pa. -
The Penn State women's tennis team (0-2, 0-0) will host the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (0-0,0-0) on Saturday to kick-off its home schedule. The Nittany Lions will take on the Retrievers at 11 a.m. at the Indoor Tennis Center. Penn State is coming off two close losses in its first dual matches of the season.
The Nittany Lions traveled to Hawaii to face the Rainbow Warriors and sixth-ranked Baylor Bears. After a grueling first match with Hawaii, Penn State lost a heartbreaker, 4-3. Against Baylor, the Nittany Lions put up a valiant effort but ultimately fell, 5-2.
Coming off a successful fall campaign, No. 96 Petra Januskova (Ottowa, Canada) picked up right where she left off, tallying a 3-1 record, including a decisive victory over Baylor's fourteenth-ranked Diana Nakic (6-2, 6-3).
In the match against Hawaii, Chelsea Utting (Peachtree City, Ga.) also picked up a singles point for the Nittany Lions, defeating Martina Kostalova, 6-0, 6-4. The Nittany Lions earned the doubles point versus the Rainbow Warriors, getting victories from both the duos of Januskova and Nina Sertic (Zagrab, Croatia) and Utting and Carmen Sandor (Toronto, Canada).
Versus Baylor, Fernanda Perrotta (Buenos Aires, Argentina) recorded an easy win against Doris Llamas (6-1, 6-1) to give Penn State its second singles point along with Januskova's victory. Sandor and Utting dominated the pairing of Llamas and Horter, 8-0, to start the season with a 2-0 record in doubles.
Additionally, Penn State is coming off a strong fall season, in which they tallied a combined 46-37 singles record and a 20-19 doubles record, including two singles championships and a doubles second place finish in their tournament play.
The Nittany Lions have never faced the Retrievers before. UMBC is led by head coach Rob Hubbard, who is in his fourth season with the Retrievers, who compete in the American East Conference. Last season UMBC finished with a 10-9 record. This year the team boasts a well-rounded roster that features one freshman, two sophomores, two juniors, one senior and a grad student. They are led by sophomore Kim Berghaus who is ranked No. 111 in the lasted ITA poll.
Penn State is back in action at home next weekend when it faces the Pittsburgh Panthers on Sunday, Jan. 29, at 1 p.m. After that, the Nittany Lions will host Ohio State in their Big Ten opener, Tuesday, Feb. 5, at 3 p.m.