Feb. 18, 2014
SKILLMAN, N.J. - The Nittany Lions fall eight spots to No. 65 in the ITA Rankings released Tuesday afternoon following a pair of tightly contested defeats at home over the weekend.
The Nittany Lions won their fourth doubles point of the season, and first since the opening weekend to go up 1-0 early against Marshall on Friday, but the Thundering Herd were able to snag four wins in singles to clinch the win. On Sunday the Nittany Lions split the singles competition but the Quakers left the Penn State Indoor Tennis Center with the victory having also taken the doubles point.
Dasha Sapogova (Minsk, Belarus) lead the way for the Nittany Lions over the weekend winning all three of her matches. On Friday she teamed with Marie-Frederique Bedard (Montreal, Canada) to win at No. 1 doubles helping Penn State clinch the early point. On Sunday she won in straight sets over Kana Daniel taking the match 6-2, 6-2 in her first time playing at No. 2 singles.
Six Big Ten teams accompany the Nittany Lions in this week's rankings with Northwestern leading the way at No. 8. Five non-conference teams on Penn State's schedule also find themselves in this week's rankings including Baylor sitting at No. 15.
No individual rankings were released this week. Penn State has this weekend off but will open their conference season when Ohio State comes to Happy Valley for a midweek clash on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 4 p.m.