Jan. 18, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 49 Nittany Lions defeated Cleveland State, 5-2, at the Penn State Indoor Tennis Center in their season opener. Penn State won the doubles point sweeping the first two matches and followed it up with four wins in singles play.
Penn State got things started in doubles winning both of the matches. The senior pairing of Chelsea Utting (Peachtree City, Ga.) and Carmen Sandor (Toronto, Canada) kicked things off bringing home a 6-2 victory at the No. 1 spot. The win brings the pair's record together to 7-3 all-time and 6-1 in dual matches.
The Nittany Lions clinched the doubles point giving them a 1-0 lead when Marie-Frederique Bedard (Montreal, Canada) and Katia Blik (Moscow, Russia) topped Kara Sherwood and Alex Bush 6-3. Katherine Whiteaway (Sawbridgeworth, England) and Taylor Shukow (Boca Raton, Fla.) held a 4-1 lead in their doubles match when the Nittany Lions clinched the doubles point.
The freshman struck first when Blik continued her impressive start knocking off Princess Gbadamosi in the No. 1 singles match in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3. Blik became the first freshman to win at No. 1 in singles since Petra Januskova (Ottawa, Canada) and Amy Simidian (Carlstadt, N.J.) did it in 2010.
Dasha Sapogova (Belarus, Minsk) followed that up with a 6-4, 6-2 victory against Victoria Bensimon to put the Nittany Lions up 3-0 in the match. Sandor clinched the victory for Penn State with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Kara Sherwood. Cleveland State struck next when Bush topped Whiteaway 6-3, 6-3.
Bedard added to the Nittany Lions lead besting Mathilde Orange 6-4, 6-2. The win In her first collegiate singles action Shukow put up a fight winning to straight games to come within one of Ellen Folkers in the second set, but Folkers hung on to win 6-4, 6-4 giving the Vikings their second and final point of the match.
The Nittany Lions had a balanced effort with freshman, sophomores and seniors all recording victories in the match. The win allows Penn State to start the season with a victory for the second consecutive year and they will look to add to it in the second half of the doubleheader when they take on Bucknell at 2 p.m.
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