April 8, 2012
University Park, Pa. - The No. 47 Penn State women's tennis team (11-7, 3-4) upheld their higher ranking, as it defeated the Wisconsin Badgers (10-9, 1-6), 4-3, on a beautiful Easter Sunday afternoon. With the victory, the Nittany Lions snap a three-match losing skid and improved their record on their home court to 10-3 on the season.
Petra Januskova (Ottawa, Canada) and Chelsea Utting (Peachtree City, Ga.) started the match off strong, with a dominating victory of Alaina Trgovich and Nicky Stracar in the number one doubles position. In the No. 2 spot, Carmen Sandor (Toronto, Canada) and Marie-Frederique Bedard (Montreal, Canada) were upended by Hannah Berner and Nova Patel.
With the first two doubles matches split, the point came down to Nina Sertic (Zagrab, Croatia) and Fernanda Perrotta (Buenos Aires, Argentina) in the No. 3 slot. The Nittany Lion duo did not disappoint, as they rallied from a deficit to defeat Angela Chupa and Sarah Loebel, 8-4.
"Doubles was huge for us today," said Head Coach Dawna Denny. "We knew that going in. We knew getting that point was going to be really important."
In singles action, Utting jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, as she overpowered Stracar in the number two match, 6-0, 6-1, to give the Nittany Lions a 2-0 lead. Next to finish was Sandor in the No. 4 spot. The sophomore fell to Loebel, 6-2, 6-2. Perrotta also could not pull out the victory, as she was defeated by Berner, 7-5, 6-1, in the No. 3 bout.
With the score tied at 2-2, Januskova was battling Trgovich in the No. 1 dual. The junior dominated the Badger in the first set, winning 6-0. Trgovich recovered in the second set, but Januskova proved to be too strong, as she won 7-5, to give the Nittany Lions the lead again, 3-2.
In the No. 5 match, Bedard faced Patel. The sophomore could not pull off the win, falling to the Badger 6-3, 6-2.
With the score tied at 3-3, the match was in the hands of Sertic in the No. 6 position. The senior proved to be stellar in the clutch, as she upended Aleksandra Markovic, 6-3, 6-3 to clinch the victory for the Nittany Lions.
"This was hard fought," said Denny. "I was proud of the team for coming out on top."
Next up, Penn State will head to Illinois to take on No. 14 Northwestern on Sat., April 14 at 11 a.m. and No. 19 Illinois on Sun., April 15, also at 11 a.m. Following that trip, the Nittany Lions will return home for their last match in Happy Valley, when they host No. 15 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. 47 PENN STATE 4
WISCONSIN 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
Trgovich/Stracar
#1
8-1
Januskova/Utting
Patel/Berner
8-2
#2
Sandor/Bedard
Chupa/Loebel
#3
8-4
Sertic/Perrotta
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3
Singles
Trgovich
#1
6-0, 7-5
No. 61 Januskova
Stracar
#2
6-0, 6-1
Utting
Berner
7-5, 6-1
#3
Perrotta
Loebel
6-2, 6-2
#4
Sandor
Patel
6-3, 6-2
#5
Bedard
Markovic
#6
6-3, 6-3
Sertic
Order of finish:2, 4, 3, 1, 5, 6