Sept. 21, 2013
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - The Nittany Lions won eight of their nine matches on the day and moved into the main draw semifinals and back draw semifinals in the doubles competition. Katherine Whiteaway (Sawbridgeworth, England) and Marie-Frederique Bedard (Montreal, Canada) each won their singles matches, staying alive in the back draw of singles heading into the final day of play.
The Nittany Lions started the day in singles competition with all three players in the consolation flight. Bedard got the Nittany Lions off to a good start knocking off Vivian Cheng of Columbia, 6-0, 6-3 to move into the semifinals of the first round consolation draw. Whiteaway followed that up with a victory of her own besting Kathleen Uy of Rhode Island 6-4, 6-3 moving her into the quarterfinals. Carmen Sandor (Toronto, Canada) couldn't overcome Cassandre Thebault in her opening round match in the back draw, falling 6-1, 6-2.
In her semifinal match Bedard fought back after dropping the first set to knock off Yanita Arnaudova of St. John's 4-6, 6-3, 10-4 and move into the finals where she'll face Yana Mavrina of Temple tomorrow. Whiteaway moved into semifinals of her flight after knocking off Nada Zaher 7-5, 6-3. She'll face Srinidihi Raghavan of Penn tomorrow!
Penn State remained undefeated on the day in doubles winning all four of their matches. Whiteaway and Sivan Krems knocked off Temple's Mavrina and Rebecca Breland 8-3 before besting Stephanie Do and Luba Vazhenina of Penn 8-2 to move into the semifinals of the doubles main draw. They will face Bianca Sanon and Kanika Vaidya of Columbia in the match Sunday.
Sandor and Bedard stayed alive in the doubles consolation winning both of their matches moving them into the semifinals. They topped Khrystyna Pavlyuk and Anastasia Polyakova of St. John's 8-6 before defeating Liza Sadovnikova and Galina Chernykh of Rhode Island in the quarterfinals. They'll square off against Anna Abadias and Brittany Boys of Richmond tomorrow with a spot in the flight's final on the line.
Penn State will look to build off their mammoth day Sunday on the final day of play in Philadelphia. All three Nittany Lions will be competing in a draw with a chance to win their respective flights including the main draw of doubles, back draw of doubles and back draw of two singles flights.