Feb. 16, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 57 Nittany Lions (3-6, 0-0) took a 3-2 lead in the match but could not hold on falling to Penn (3-3, 0-0) 4-3 Sunday afternoon. Dasha Sapogova (Minsk, Belarus) earned her eighth win of the season knocking off Kana Daniel in her first time playing at No. 2 singles.
The Quakers entered singles holding a 1-0 lead with wins at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles. Stephanie Do and Luba Vazhenina topped Katia Blik (Moscow, Russia) and Katherine Whiteaway (Sawbridgeworth, England) at No. 3, 8-4. Blik and Whiteaway pulled within three games after taking two straight sets to make the score 7-4, but the Quakers' duo held on for the win.
At No. 2 doubles Carmen Sandor (Toronto, Canada) and Samantha Tutelman (New York, N.Y.) were unable tie it up losing to Jaime Yapp-Shing and Sonya Latycheva 8-3 at No. 2 doubles. The match at No. 1 went unfinished with Sol Eskenazi and Kana Daniel leading Marie-Frederique Bedard (Montreal, Canada) and Sapogova 6-2 when the match was called.
Sandor tied the match at one point apiece after Latycheva retired in the second set at No. 3 singles. Sandor took the match's first set 6-4. Penn regained the lead when Eskenazi held off Blik's second set push at No. 1 singles winning 6-0, 7-6(1).
Sapogova made her debut at the No. 2 singles spot after playing her first eight matches at No. 3. She knocked off Kana Daniel in two sets winning, 6-2, 6-2 to improve to 8-1 on the year.
Bedard took an early lead in the first set at No. 4 and held on to win the tiebreaker heading into the second set. Do came back winning the final two sets and the match, 6-7 (2), 6-0, 6-1 and tied the match at three after Penn State received the victory at No. 4 when Taylor Shukow (Boca Raton, Fla.) won via walkover.
In the deciding match, Alex Ion held off Whiteaway's attempt to come from behind in the second set to extend the match, winning in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2.
The Nittany Lions will have a week off before they return to action on Feb. 25 to host Ohio State at the Penn State Indoor Tennis Center in their Big Ten opener at 4 p.m.
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