April 15, 2012
Champaign, Ill. - The No. 52 Penn State women's tennis team (11-9, 3-6) lost its second match in as many days, as the Nittany Lions fell to No. 23 Illinois (15-6, 7-2), 5-2, on Sunday afternoon. Penn State has struggled on the road this season, falling to 1-6 away from Happy Valley this spring. Chelsea Utting (Peachtree City, Ga.) and Nina Sertic (Zagrab, Croatia) picked up singles points for the Nittany Lions.
Illinois jumped out to an early lead, sweeping Penn State in all three doubles matches. Marie-Frederique Bedard (Montreal, Canada) and Carmen Sandor (Toronto, Canada) were bested by Rachael White and Amy Allin, 8-2, in the No. 2 bout. In the No. 1 slot, No. 84 Petra Januskova (Ottawa, Canada) and Utting could not upset No. 57 Marisa Lambropoulos and Melissa Kopinski, as they lost 8-3. In the last doubles match, Fernanda Perrotta (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and Sertic were defeated by Chelcie Abajian and Allison Falkin, 8-3.
Penn State looked to rebound in singles action as Utting overpowered Kopinski in the No. 2 slot, 6-3, 6-2, to tie the match at 1-1. However, Illinois bounced back to take the next three matches from the Nittany Lions to secure the win. White defeated Bedard, 6-4, 6-2 in the number five dual and Allin bested Sandor, 6-0, 6-4, in the number four position. Lambropoulos also upended Perrotta in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3, in the No. 3 bout.
After losing the first set, 4-6, Sertic bounced back to take a 3-1 lead in the second in the number six slot. The senior was credited with the win after Abajian had to retire.
In the last match of the day, No. 74 Januskova dropped a heartbreaker of a first set, 7-5. However, the junior dominated the second set, 3-6, to tie the No. 1 match at 1 set a piece. In the tiebreaker, Januskova could not use her second set momentum as she fell 10-5.
Next weekend, the Nittany Lions will return home for their last match in Happy Valley, when they host No. 14 Michigan on Fri., April 20 at 3 p.m. Penn State will close out regular season play, when it travels to Michigan State on Sun., April 22 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. 52 PENN STATE 2
NO. 23 ILLINOIS 5
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 | ||
5
2
Doubles
#57 Lambropoulos/Kopinski
8-3
#1
#84 Januskova/Utting
White/Allin
8-2
#2
Bedard/Sandor
Falkin/Abajian8-3
#3
Perrrotta/Sertic
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3
Singles
#119 Falkin
7-5, 3-6, 1-0 (10-5)
#1
#74 Januskova
Kopinski
#2
6-3, 6-2
Utting
Lambropoulos
6-2, 6-3
#3
Perrotta
Allin
6-0, 6-4
#4
Sandor
White
6-4, 6-2
#5
Bedard
Abajian
#6
4-6, 3-1, retired
Sertic
Order of finish:2, 5, 4, 3, 6, 1