Jan. 18, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - No. 49 Women's Tennis closed out their season-opening doubleheader with a 6-1 victory over the Bucknell Bison. Just as they did against Cleveland State, the Nittany Lions jumped out to a big lead, clinching the win before Bucknell could register a point in the match.
"We shook up our lineup a little bit and changed things up," interim head coach Chris Cagle said. "It was nice to see some of our players step up and play under pressure, maybe playing a little higher up in the lineup than they are used to or playing with a new partner and those kinds of things."
The Nittany Lions earned the doubles point winning the No. 2 and No. 3 matches taking an early 1-0 lead. In No. 2 doubles Marie-Frederique Bedard (Montreal, Canada) and Dasha Sapogova (Belarus, Minsk) breezed past Lydia Colvin and Michele Urbinati 6-1.
Soon after Katherine Whiteaway (Sawbridgeworth, England) and Taylor Shukow (Boca Raton, Fla.) topped Stephanie Pino and Alyssa McAndrew to secure the point for Penn State. The match at No. 1 went unfinished with Chelsea Utting (Peachtree City, Ga.) and Carmen Sandor (Toronto, Canada) trailing Elena Vidrascu and Maria Cioffi 5-4 when the Nittany Lions clinched the doubles point.
In singles Sapogova earned her second win of the match and third on the day when she bested Vidrascu 6-1, 6-0 to put Penn State up 2-0. Bedard quickly followed winning her fourth match of the day knocking off Colvin 6-1, 7-5.
Whiteaway fought back to win a tough first set before sailing past Urbinati in the second on her way to winning her second match against Bucknell, 7-5, 6-2 and clinching the victory for Penn State. Sandor remained undefeated knocking off Cioffi 6-2, 6-4 to increase the lead to five for the Nittany Lions.
Shukow notched her first collegiate singles victory besting Jorie Fox 6-2, 6-0. Bucknell earned their lone point in the match when Melissa Parks topped Lisa Petruzillo (Muttontown, N.Y.), 6-2, 6-1 to close out the match.
Penn State stays undefeated in fifteen matches all-time against the Bison with the win. They will look to remain unbeaten on the young season when Navy comes to town tomorrow for the first-ever meeting between the two programs. The match is set to begin at 2 p.m.
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