Nov. 7, 2012
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's tennis team will close out their fall campaign this weekend when Petra Januskova heads to the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in Flushing, N.Y., while the rest of the team travels to Kalamazoo, Mich. for the Western Michigan Super Challenge.
Januskova will begin play at the National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships on Thursday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. She gained automatic entry to the championship after winning the ITA Atlantic Regional in October.
Januskova becomes the first Nittany Lion in years to be invited to the Women's USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships which began in 1984. She joins Northwestern's Kate Turvy as the only representatives of the Big Ten Conference at this year's tournament.
Januskova is two wins away from 13 singles victories this fall which would tie her fall season career high which she had in each of the past two seasons.
The rest of the Nittany Lions will compete in the WMU Super Challenge beginning Friday. The tournament will be held on the campus of Western Michigan at the West Hills Athletic Club.
This is the third year in a row Penn State will play in this event. Teams competing in Kalamazoo include No. 19 Notre Dame, No. 48 Indiana and No. 66 DePaul. Others include Western Michigan, Louisville, Iowa State, Marquette and Bowling Green.
Last year Penn State found plenty of success at the Super Challenge with Petra bringing home the singles title for the second straight year.
Sarah Henderson and Carmen Sandor look to add to their fall career highs in victories. Henderson topped her fall season career bests earlier this fall in singles and total wins with three singles and three doubles victories.
Sandor blew away her previous fall best winning eight singles matches and one doubles match, topping her previous high, three singles victories and five total victories.
Freshman Devan McCluskey currently sits at 10 wins heading into the WMU Super Challenge which is the most by a freshman in the fall season since Monika Mical had 13 and Maria Prishlyak had 11 in 2008.
Following this week's action the Nittany Lions will have some time off before they kick off their spring season when they travel to Akron, Ohio where they'll face Middle Tennessee State University on Saturday, Jan. 19.