Jan. 5, 2012
University Park, Pa. - The first ITA rankings were released yesterday and the Penn State women's tennis team landed a singles player in the Top 100. Petra Januskova (Ottawa, Canada) was honored with a No. 96 national ranking.
The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) ranks the nation's top 125 players in both men's and women's singles play, as well as the top sixty men's and women's doubles partners and the best overall teams.
In addition to weekly polls during the spring season, the ITA releases a preseason ranking in the fall. After an outstanding fall season in which she started out ranked No. 108, Januskova moved up twelve spots in the most recent poll.
The junior compiled a 20-5 record in the fall and garnered her first Big Ten Athlete of the Week award. Additionally, Januskova took home the singles crown at the Cissie Leary Invitational and was the singles champion at the Western Michigan Super Challenge for the second year in a row. She partnered with Nina Sertic (Zagrab, Croatia) for a second place finish in the doubles portion of the Cissie Leary Invitational.
Januskova hopes to improve upon a standout sophomore campaign in which she was named first-team All-Big Ten and ranked in the ITA poll for most of the year. She led the Nittany Lions with a 14-8 record, including five victories over ranked opponents.
Januskova and the rest of the Nittany Lion team will begin regular season play today and tomorrow with dual matches against both Hawaii and Baylor in Manoa, Hawaii.