March 12, 2012
University Park, Pa. - After a two week break, the No. 53 Penn State women's tennis team (7-3, 1-0) hopes to pick up right where it left off when it hosts the Temple Owls (4-7, 2-1) on Wednesday, March 14 at 4:30 p.m. The Nittany Lions are riding a two match win-streak, including victories in seven of their last eight matches, with three of those wins coming against ranked opponents.
The last time Penn State took the court was the weekend of Feb. 24, when it hosted No. 65 Marshall on Friday and Miami (OH) on Sunday. As has been the case all season, the Nittany Lions played two close, tough-fought matches in which they eventually came out victorious. No. 50 Petra Januskova (Ottawa, Canada), Marie-Frederique Bedard (Montreal, Canada) and Nina Sertic (Zagrab, Croatia) all earned 2-0 singles records in those two matches. Sertic and Bedard also teamed up to tally a 2-0 doubles record as well; both of those Nittany Lions compiled a 4-0 total record throughout the entire weekend.
In its all-time series against Temple, Penn State is an unblemished, 14-0. The Nittany Lions last defeated the Owls last season, 4-3, in a come from behind victory. The first time Penn State faced Temple was in the spring of 1987.
Steve Mauro enters his fourth season at the helm of the Temple women's tennis team, however he has coached the men's team for seven years. Last season Temple had three players earn All-League honors. The Owls are led by Yana Mavrina in the No. 1 singles slot. The sophomore has compiled six victories so far this season, including a win over Olga Blank of No. 67 UNC-Wilmington.
After Wednesday's match, Penn State will continue its home stand and wrap up non-conference play when it hosts Eastern Michigan on Saturday, March 17 at noon. After that, the Nittany Lions will only face conference opponents, as Indiana will travel to Happy Valley on Friday, March 23 at 4 p.m. Penn State will hit the road for the first time in over a month to take on Purdue, Sunday, March 25 at 11:30 a.m.
All of the Nittany Lions home matches can be followed through the link for live stats at http://www.gopsusports.com/livestats/c-tennis/xlive.htm. Make sure to "like" the Penn State Women's Tennis page on Facebook and follow @PSUWomensTennis on Twitter!