Jan. 21, 2012
University Park, Pa. -
The Penn State women's tennis team (1-2, 0-0) took the court by storm in their first home match of the season, defeating the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (0-1), 7-0. The Nittany Lions swept the Retrievers in all six singles matches and claimed two doubles victories to earn the shut-out.
The match began with all three doubles duos taking the court. In the number three slot, Carmen Sandor (Toronto, Canada) and Chelsea Utting (Peachtree City, Ga.) finished first. The pairing easily bested Isabel Aldunate and Heidi Danielsson, 8-1. Marie-Frederique Bedard (Montreal, Canada) and Fernanda Perrotta (Buenos Aires, Argentina) weren't far behind in match number two, as they handled Shalini Sahoo and Josefin Stange-Jonsson, 8-3.
With those two doubles victories, Penn State automatically earned the doubles point, but Petra Januskova (Ottawa, Canada) and Nina Sertic (Zagrab, Croatia) were still in the middle of their match with Kim Berghaus and Carmen Jackman. With both teams watching this number one match, Januskova and Sertic prepared to mount a comeback, but eventually came up short as they lost, 8-5.
In singles play, No. 96 Januskova took to the court first as she faced No. 111 Berghaus in the number one match. Januskova upheld her higher ranking as she breezed by Berghaus, 6-1, 6-0. Bedard also picked up an easy victory for the Nittany Lions in the number four slot; she bested Aldunate, 6-1, 6-1.
After a long battle with Sahoo, Sandor eventually pulled out the win, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Sertic finished next in the sixth spot, defeating Stange-Jonsson, 6-1, 6-3. Perrotta also claimed a point for the Nittany Lions, besting Danielsson, 6-4, 6-2.
In the longest match of the day, Utting ultimately pushed past Jackman in the third slot, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (5).
"It was a battle, both mentally and physically," said Utting. "But I had to keep pushing."
Head Coach Dawna Denny was pleased with the way the Nittany Lions kicked off their home schedule and hopes to build off that going into the rest of the fall season.
"I'm happy with the win," said Denny. "We still have some kinks to work out but we got a solid effort in our matches today."
Next up, Penn State will return to its home court when they face the Pittsburgh Panthers on Sunday, Jan. 29, at 1 p.m. On Tuesday, Feb. 5, Penn State will open Big Ten play when they host the Ohio State Buckeyes.
PENN STATE 7
UMBC 0
2011 Women's Tennis Yearbook 2012 Roster 2012 Schedule Head Coach Dawna Denny 2012 Tennis Camps
| DOUBLES | SINGLES | F | ||||||||
| #1 |
#2 |
#3 | #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 | ||
0
7
Doubles
Berghaus/Jackman
8-5
#1
Januskova/Sertic
Sahoo/Stange-Jonsson
#2
8-3
Perrotta/Bedard
Danielsson/Aldunate
#3
8-1
Sandor/Utting
Order of finish: 3,2,1
Singles
#111 Berghaus
#1
6-1, 6-0
#96 Januskova
Sahoo
#2
6-2, 3-6, 6-3
Sandor
Jackman
#3
6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (5)
Utting
Aldunate
#4
6-1, 6-1
Bedard
Danielsson
#5
6-4, 6-2
Perrotta
Stange-Jonsson
#6
6-1, 6-3
Sertic
Order of finish:1,4, 2, 6, 5, 3