Feb. 6, 2012
University Park, Pa. - The Penn State women's tennis team (2-2, 0-0) will take on the No. 57 Ohio State Buckeyes (3-3, 0-0) at 3 p.m. on Tuesday at the Indoor Tennis Center. This will be the first Big Ten match of the season for both teams. The Nittany Lions are 2-0 on their home court this season.
Penn State is coming off two impressive victories against UMBC and Pittsburgh. The Nittany Lions swept the Retrievers, 7-0, on Jan. 21 and dominated the Panthers, 6-1, on Jan. 29. Penn State's only lost point to Pittsburgh came from an injury so the match could not be finished.
Against the Panthers, No. 96 Petra Januskova (Ottawa, Canada) continued her success this spring by beating Jocelyn Lu, 6-1, 6-3. The junior has not lost a singles set all season. Fernanda Perrotta (Buenos Aires, Argentina) earned an impressive victory against Molly Wickman, 6-2, 6-1. Carmen Sandor (Toronto, Canada), Chelsea Utting (Peachtree City, Ga.) and Nina Sertic (Zagrab, Croatia) also picked up singles points for the Nittany Lions.
In doubles action the combinations of Januskova/Sertic and Perrotta/Marie-Frederique Bedard (Montreal, Canada) claimed victories to earn the doubles point for Penn State.
As Big Ten rivals, Penn State has faced Ohio State a total of 43 times in program history. The Buckeyes hold the advantage in the series, claiming 28 wins to Penn State's 15. The Nittany Lions have not beaten OSU since the spring of 2005.
The Buckeyes are led by Head Coach Chuck Merzbacher, who has been at the helm of Ohio State for fifteen seasons. The Buckeyes are ranked No. 57 in the latest ITA poll. Ohio State is led by junior Kara Cecil, who amassed 21 singles wins last season, and freshman Kelsey Dieters, who came to OSU as a five-star recruit and No. 1 player from Michigan. The duo are the fifty-second ranked doubles pair in the country.
Penn State will hit the road for the first time in over a month when it travels to Richmond, Va. to face No. 40 Virginia Commonwealth on Sun., Feb. 12 at 11 a.m. After that, the Nittany Lions will return to Happy Valley for eight straight home matches spanning from February 17 through March 25.