April 5, 2013
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The No. 33 Nittany Lions (12-4, 2-4) were upset by the Golden Gophers (9-9, 3-3) on the road Friday afternoon, 4-3. The Nittany Lions failed to capture the doubles point as they have in all three of their previous losses and could only manage three points in singles play, losing for the first time on the season against an unranked opponent.
The Golden Gophers got out to an early lead winning two doubles matches to clinch the match's first point. Tereza Brichacova and Jessika Mozia bested Marie-Frederique Bedard and Jacqueline Zuhse 8-3 with Alexa Palen and Doron Muravnik topping Carmen Sandor and Devan McCluskey soon after to clinch the point for the Gophers.
The No. 1 doubles match went unfinished. The No. 75 duo of Petra Januskova and Chelsea Utting were leading Natallia Pintusava and Paula Rincon Otero 7-6 when the match was called after the Gophers clinched the point in the No. 2 match.
In single play McCluskey evened the match at 1-1 when she defeated Aria Lambert, 6-3, 6-3. Sandor then put the Nittany Lions ahead giving them their only lead of the match when she knocked off Mozia, 6-2, 6-4.
The Gophers quickly tied the match back up when Pintusava upset No. 57 Januskova in straight sets winning, 7-5, 6-1. Utting fell to Brichacova after winning the first set dropping the match, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.
With the score 3-2 in favor of Minnesota, Penn State needed to win out to get the victory. Rincon Otero was able to come back after dropping the second set to knock off Zuhse winning in three sets, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, to clinch the victory for Minnesota. After falling in the first set 6-3, Bedard stormed back to take the second set 6-3 before Palen retired in the third set giving Bedard and Penn State a point.
The 4-3 victory increases the Golden Gophers record to 18-6 all-time against Penn State. The Nittany Lions will look to get back on track when they travel to Madison to take on the Wisconsin Badgers on Sunday. The match is set to begin at 11 a.m. ET.
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