March 30, 2012
Iowa City, Iowa - The No. 46 Penn State women's tennis team (10-5, 2-2) was upset by the Iowa Hawkeyes (7-8, 1-3), 4-3, on Friday. After compiling a 9-2 record at home this season, the Nittany Lions hit the road for the first time in over a month in a half. Penn State has been used to tight matches so far this season, but ultimately could not pull out the win after another back-and-forth match. Chelsea Utting (Peachtree City, Ga.), Marie-Frederique Bedard (Montreal, Canada) and Nina Sertic (Zagrab, Croatia) picked up the points for the Nittany Lions.
Petra Januskova (Ottawa, Canada) and Utting started the match off for the Nittany Lions, defeating Sonja Molnar and Morven McCulloch in the No. 1 singles spot, 8-3. However, Iowa stole the doubles point away from Penn State by winning the next two matches.
After putting up a valiant fight, Bedard and Sertic were bested by Ally Majercik and Shelby Talcott, 8-6,in the No. 3 doubles match. Sarah Henderson (Bloomington, Ind.) and Fernanda Perrotta (Buenos Aires, Argentina) also lost a close match, falling to Ellen Silver and Katie Zordani, 8-5, in the number two spot.
The Hawkeyes entered singles play with a 1-0 lead over the Nittany Lions. However, Utting soon erased the deficit with a 6-3, 6-1, victory over Talcott in the No. 2 dual.
In the No. 4 match, Perrotta was upended by Zordani, 6-4, 6-1, and the Hawkeyes retook the lead, 2-1. Once again, that lead did not last long as Bedard came through in the clutch for the second match in a row. The sophomore defeated Christina Harazin, 6-4, 6-4 in the number five spot, to tie the match at 2-2.
In the number one slot, No. 61 Januskova suffered just her second loss of the season. The junior fell to No. 115 Molnar, 6-4, 6-4. With Iowa up, 3-2, the match came down to two must win situations for Sandor and Sertic who were both in their third set.
After a valiant try in her comeback effort, Carmen Sandor(Toronto, Canada) was bested by McCulloch in the No. 3 spot, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2. Although the win was secured for the Hawkeyes, Sertic was still in her showdown with Silver in the number six match. The senior eventually pulled out the win, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.
Penn State continues its Midwest trip on Sunday when it travels to Nebraska to face the No. 18 Cornhuskers (16-2, 2-1) on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. Live stats for the match can be found at http://www.huskers.com/liveStats/liveStats.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=100.
After that, the Nittany Lions return home next weekend when they host No. 32 Minnesota on Fri., April 6 at 5 p.m. and Wisconsin on Sun., April 8 at 11 a.m. After that, Penn State will head to Illinois to take on No. 15 Northwestern on Sat., April 14 at 11 a.m. and No. 21 Illinois on Sun., April 15, also at 11 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. 46 PENN STATE 3
IOWA 4
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 | ||
4
3
Doubles
Molnar/McCulloch
#1
8-3
Januskova/Utting
Silver/Zordani
8-5
#2
Perrotta/Henderson
Majercik/Talcott8-6
#3
Bedard/Sertic
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
Singles
#115 Molnar
6-4, 6-4
#1
#61 Januskova
Talcott
#2
6-3, 6-1
Utting
McCulloch
6-1, 4-6, 6-2
#3
Sandor
Zordani
6-4, 6-1
#4
Perrotta
Harazin
#5
6-4, 6-4
Bedard
Silver
#6
4-6, 6-1, 6-3
Sertic
Order of finish:2, 4, 5, 1, 3, 6x