March 14, 2012
University Park, Pa. - The No. 54 Penn State women's tennis team (8-3, 1-0) showed no signs of rust after a two week lull in match play. Playing in its first outdoor match of the season, the Nittany Lions defeated the Temple Owls (5-8, 2-1), 4-3. With the victory Penn State improved to 7-1 at home this season and has won eight of its last nine matches.
"We definitely had some momentum going into the break so we wanted to get back into the swing of things," said Head Coach Dawna Denny. "We want to play outside any chance we can get because we are looking at the big picture and NCAAs are outside."
The match began with all three doubles duos taking the court. Petra Januskova (Ottawa, Canada) and Chelsea Utting (Peachtree City, Ga.) teamed up to easily defeat Rebecca Breland and Cristina Grimaldi, 8-1, in a quick first doubles bout. Next to finish was Marie-Frederique Bedard (Montreal, Canada) and Nina Sertic (Zagrab, Croatia) in the No. 3 slot. The pair also breezed to a victory; besting Alicia Doms and Jordan Batey, 8-2.
With the doubles point already secured for the Nittany Lions, Carmen Sandor (Toronto, Canada) and Fernanda Perrotta (Buenos Aires, Argentina) were still playing in the No. 2 spot. After a hard fought match, the Penn State duo eventually fell to Yana Mavrina and Agnese Rozite, 8-5.
After a 10 minute intermission, singles play began with the Nittany Lions holding a 1-0 lead. Sertic jumped out to a quick lead over Breland and she never looked back, winning, 6-1, 6-3. Utting also picked up a singles victory for the Nittany Lions to take a commanding lead in the match 3-0. In the No. 2 slot, Utting bested Doms, 6-4, 6-1.
Perrotta was next to finish for Penn State in the number four match. The senior fell to Rozite, 6-4, 6-3. In the No. 1 position, Januskova continued her singles dominance and secured the win for the Nittany Lions. The junior handedly defeated Mavrina, 6-3, 6-1.
After winning her first set, 6-2, Bedard could not finish the second due to injury, so Osei was credited with the win, 6-2, 4-1 retired. In the number three spot, Sandor fell to Batey, 6-2, 6-4.
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. and Purdue visits Saturday, March 25 at 11:30 a.m.
All of the Nittany Lion's 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!
NO. 54 PENN STATE 4
TEMPLE 3
2012 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 | ||
3
4
Doubles
Breland/Grimaldi
#1
8-1
Januskova/Utting
Rozite/Mavrina
8-5
#2
Perrotta/Sandor
Doms/Batey
#3
8-2
Sertic/Bedard
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
Singles
Mavrina
#1
6-3, 6-1
#55 Januskova
Doms
#2
6-4, 6-1
Utting
Batey
6-2, 6-4
#3
Sandor
Rozite
6-4, 6-3
#4
Perrotta
Osei
4-6, 1-4 retired
#5
Bedard
Breland
#6
6-1, 6-3
Sertic
Order of finish:6, 2, 4, 1, 5, 3