Feb. 21, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Nittany Lions women's tennis team returns home this weekend to face a pair of Atlantic Region opponents. On Saturday Penn State will face West Virginia at 11 a.m. before finishing their weekend with No. 49 VCU at noon on Sunday.
Penn State is coming off of two wins last weekend in Huntington, W.Va. where they bested Winthrop and Marshall. The wins bolstered several Nittany Lions individual records as well. With two wins for each of them over the weekend, Chelsea Utting and Jacqueline Zuhse move to 7-0 and 6-0 in singles play on the season respectively.
Petra Januskova, this week's Penn State Student-Athlete of the Week, finds herself at 6-1 in singles competition following her two victories from the weekend, with Devan McCluskey close behind at 5-2.
Carmen Sandor and Devan McCluskey won both of their doubles matches over the weekend increasing their record to 4-0 together and giving Sandor a 6-0 record overall in doubles matches this spring. Sarah Henderson is the only Nittany Lion still undefeated in all competition with a 5-0 record, with three of those wins coming in singles competition.
After a close 4-3 victory over Winthrop the Nittany Lions knocked off Marshall 6-1, winning seven of the nine matches. The Nittany Lions continued their trend of winning the doubles point, clinching it in both matches over the weekend and six of their seven on the season.
West Virginia comes into Happy Valley with a 1-5 record, including losses in their last four matches. The Mountaineers have faced a tough schedule thus far this season. No. 37 William & Mary, No. 49 VCU and No. 61 Ohio State are among the losses the Mountaineers have suffered this season.
Penn State is 19-1 all-time against West Virginia with the Nittany Lions getting a 7-0 win last time out in 2008. Senior Emily Mathis leads the Mountaineers with her 4-2 record while senior leader Audrey Wooland looks for her first win of the season in her No. 1 position.
The Nittany Lions will face their toughest competition of the season to this point on Sunday when No. 49 VCU comes to visit. The Rams sport a 9-3 record with all three losses coming against ranked opponents including a 4-0 loss to the nation's No. 1, North Carolina. Their other losses came against No. 16 Virginia and No. 38 South Carolina.
VCU is comes in with a two-game winning streak after knocking off West Virginia and Virginia Tech last weekend. Cindy Chala leads the Rams with a 5-2 record in the No. 1 spot. Salome Kvitashvilli is ranked No. 6 in the region with Olga Barschevskaya coming in at No. 20 in the region for the Rams. Daria Yakauleva and Kvitashvilli also find themselves in the regional doubles poll at No. 7.
Following this weekend pair, the Nittany Lions will travel to Columbus, Ohio where they will face Ohio State and begin conference play on March 3. The Lions next Big Ten Conference match following the Buckeyes will be on March 22 when they travel to Bloomington to face Indiana.