April 17, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - After winning all four of her matches against ranked competition last weekend senior Petra Januskova (Ottawa, Canada) was named Big Ten Athlete of the Week Wednesday. It is her third time receiving this honor and her first this season.
In singles Januskova knocked of No. 106 Veronica Corning of Northwestern in the No. 1 match 6-4, 6-4 before defeating Melissa Kopinski of Illinois 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 at No. 1 Sunday. With her 15 wins this spring Januskova is only two shy of her career record of 17 wins in the dual matches which she earned last season.
The pair of singles wins gives her 91 for her career, putting her four behind Olga Novikova's team record of 95 set in 1997. She now has 26 wins combined from the fall and spring which is good enough for third in the record books behind only herself from the last two seasons. She accumulated 30 wins last season and 27 the year prior.
Januskova also impressed in doubles this past weekend alongside her doubles partner Chelsea Utting. The duo went 2-0 with wins over the No. 9 and No. 27 ranked pairs in the nation. Januskova and Utting topped No. 9 Linda Abu Mushrefova and Nida Hamilton 8-5 Saturday and followed that up with an 8-6 victory of No. 27 Kopinski and Rachael White of Illinois.
Januskova has 60 doubles victories in her time at Penn State. She is two wins away from tying Olga Novikova for most career doubles victories in program history. Her 17 wins this season in doubles matches are four shy of her personal record for most wins in a season when she won 21 last season.