Feb. 1, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 50 Penn State Nittany Lions earned a victory from freshman Dasha Sapogova (Minsk, Belarus) but fell to No. 40 Kentucky, 6-1, at the Penn State Indoor Tennis Center Saturday afternoon.
The Nittany Lions fell behind early dropping the doubles point giving Kentucky a 1-0 lead heading into singles. Penn State was no stranger to being behind early against the Wildcats as they came from behind to win last season's meeting 4-3, after dropping two of the three doubles matches.
CeCe Witten and Caitlin McGraw topped Carmen Sandor (Toronto, Canada) and Taylor Shukow (Boca Raton, Fla.) 6-1 at the No. 1 doubles match to put the Nittany Lions backs against the wall.
Penn State added pressure looking to take the remaining two matches and take an early lead but their attempt was halted when Edmée Morin-Kougoucheff and Aldila Sutjiadi were able to hold off Sapogova and Katia Blik (Moscow, Russia), winning at No. 2 6-4. Marie-Frederique Bedard (Montreal, Canada) and Katherine Whiteaway (Sawbridgeworth, England) were tied at five with Nadia Ravita and Kirsten Lewis when the Wildcats clinched the doubles victory.
Kentucky added to their lead with Sutjiadi's 6-2, 6-1 victory over Sandor at No. 2 singles. Sapogova cut the Nittany Lions deficit in half with her victory over Kelsey Dieters in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2.
Penn State looked to even things at two in the No. 1 singles match with Blik taking the lead in both sets against No. 108 Ravita, but both times Ravita was able to take a late lead and hold on for a 7-5, 6-4 win.
After dropping her first set 6-3, Bedard fought back in the second set looking to send the match into a super breaker. Holding a 5-4 lead, Morin-Kougoucheff was able to take the final three games to win the set and match giving Kentucky their match-clinching fourth point along the way.
McGraw added to the Wildcats lead with her 6-3, 6-2 victory over Whiteaway in No 5 singles. Kirsten Lewis closed out the math knocking off Shukow 6-3, 6-2 to give Kentucky their 6-1 victory on the road, evening up the all-time series at one win each.
Penn State will head to Virginia next weekend and look to bounce back when they face No. 43 College of William & Mary on Saturday and No. 44 Virginia Commonwealth on Sunday.
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