Oct. 20, 2012
BLACKSBURG, Va. - The Nittany Lions dominated their opponents on the second day of play in the ITA Atlantic Regionals at Virginia Tech.
Petra Januskova and Chelsea Utting lead the way for the Nittany Lions taking down their adversaries in both singles and doubles competition. Januskova and Utting started the day in the doubles draw where the No. 1 seeded pair in the tournament took down Alicia Doms and Jordan Batey of Temple. The Owls pair was no match for the Penn State duo who knocked them out of the tournament winning 8-0.
In singles play Januskova and Utting were joined by Carmen Sandor and Jacqueline Zuhse who won their matches also. No. 1 seed Januskova was too much for Georgetown's Madeline Jaeger as was Utting for host Virginia Tech's Emily Lauten. Januskova won 6-1, 6-1 while Utting won 6-1, 6-2.
Sandor controlled her match against Kara Kucin of Marshall winning 6-1, 6-1. The victory was the 50th victory of her collegiate career. She'll face Nika Khmolosvka in the next round tomorrow at 3 p.m.
Zuhse continued her roll in singles play winning her third singles match in the past two days. She topped Ikttesh Chahal of West Virginia, 7-6(4), 6-1. After a close first set, she used the momentum to steamroll Chahal in the second and final set to move on to the next round of the main draw. She'll face Stephanie Nuata of Virginia tomorrow.
Katherine Whiteaway and Devan McCluskey were also victorious in singles today. Whiteaway defeated Olga Tertaec of Virginia Commonwealth, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1. McCluskey defeated Old Dominion's Diana Ivanova who was the tournament's No. 7 seed, 6-3, 6-1.
With these two wins they ended the Nittany Lions day undefeated in singles matches and they'll both play in the afternoon tomorrow. Whiteaway will face Maria Belaya of William & Mary while McCluskey will match up with Maria Voscekova.
The freshman duo of McCluskey and Whiteaway came up short against Marshall's Karlyn Timko and Dana Oppinger falling 8-4. The match was their fourth together and first of the tournament after earning a first-round bye.
Sunday's action will again begin with doubles followed by singles. Januskova and Utting will face Maryland's Sarah Gealar and Vroni Van Berlo. They will be the second pair of Nittany Lions to face this Maryland duo this season. Sarah Henderson and Zuhse lost to them Terrapins 8-5 at the Cissie Leary Invitational last month.
In singles play, Januskova will face Lana Robins with Utting squaring off against Leah Pascarella.
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