Feb. 24, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -
The No. 65 Nittany Lions (3-6, 0-0) open their conference schedule against Ohio State (4-4, 0-0) at the Penn State Indoor Tennis Center on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
PROMOTIONS
There will be free pizza for all fans in attendance during Tuesday's match.
LAST TIME OUT
The Nittany Lions dropped a pair of close matches at home to Marshall and Penn. On Friday the Nittany Lions clinched their first doubles point since the season's opening weekend when they clinched the early point in all three matches. The Thundering Herd were able to take four victories in the singles competition to get the 4-3 win.
On Sunday the Nittany Lions met in-state rivals, Penn. The Nittany Lions and Quakers went back-and-forth exchanging leads throughout the match with Penn State taking a 3-2 lead after Carmen Sandor (Toronto, Canada), Dasha Sapogova (Minsk, Belarus) and Taylor Shukow (Boca Raton, Fla.) earned victories in singles. The Nittany Lions were unable to get a win at No. 4 or No. 5 singles to clinch the match and the Quakers escaped with a 4-3 victory.
PENN STATE NOTES
- Sapogova won her singles matches against Marshall and Penn to increase her team-lead to eight singles victories on the spring.
- Sapogova has won five straight matches in singles to pace the Nittany Lions.
- Marie-Frederique Bedard (Montreal, Canada) leads the team with five wins in doubles play this spring.
- Penn State enters the match with a 24-30 (.444) record in singles and 9-11 (.450) record in doubles.
- The freshmen have provided a boost early in the season recording 11 of the team's 24 victories in singles and being a part of eight of their nine doubles wins.
- Penn State has a 3-1 record when clinching the doubles point, and a 0-5 record when their opponent earns the match's first point.
- The Nittany Lions have dominated at No. 3 singles this season with three players combining to post an 8-1 record through nine matches.
SCOUTING OHIO STATE
The Buckeyes began the spring ranked No. 72 in the nation but faced a tough early schedule that saw them play No. 19 Baylor, No. 9 Miami and No. 59 South Florida away from home result in their dropping out of the rankings. After starting the season 1-3, Ohio State has won three of their past four including an upset victory against No. 23 Tennessee last weekend to get to .500 on the season.
Three of the Buckeyes four wins were shutouts, with their 4-3 upset against Tennessee being the lone exception. Ohio State took an early 2-0 lead against the Volunteers before Tennessee cut the lead in half with a win at No. 5 singles. After exchanging victories in the next two singles matches to finish, Ohio State found them one win away from securing the upset with two matches left. Ferny Angeles Paz clinched the victory with her two-set victory against Laurence Guevremont.
Sandy Niehaus and Miho Kowase lead the Buckeyes in singles featuring 7-1 and 5-1 records respectively. Niehaus has won seven straight after dropping her season-opening match at Baylor. Ohio State only has one player on their roster with a record under .500 in doubles despite their team's doubles record sitting at 9-8 on the season.
PENN STATE-OHIO STATE SERIES HISTORY
The Nittany Lions trail in the all-time series to their Ohio counterparts, 16-30. Last season the Buckeyes gave the Nittany Lions their first defeat of the season after starting 9-0. No. 47 Petra Januskova (Ottawa, Canada) knocked off No. 46 Kelsey Dieters at No. 1 singles and Sandor topped Grainne O'Neill at No. 5 for Penn State's only points in the 5-2 loss.
The last time the teams met in Happy Valley, an unranked Penn State squad upset No. 57 Ohio State 4-3, winning four matches in singles to overcome the early deficit after Ohio State won in doubles. Chelsea Utting (Peachtree City, Ga.) won her match in straight sets while Januskova, Fernanda Perrotta (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and Nina Sertic (Zagrab, Croatia) each won in three sets.
IN THE RANKINGS
In the ITA Rankings released on Tuesday, February 18, the Nittany Lions came in at No. 65. Penn State after dropping two matches at home against Marshall and Penn. Six other Big Ten teams join the Nittany Lions in this week's poll with none dropping out or entering the standings from last week. Five non-conference opponents from the Nittany Lions schedule are also ranked in the current rankings with Marshall entering the rankings at No. 70 following their victories last weekend.
UP NEXT
The Nittany Lions will host West Virginia on Sunday at 12 p.m. in their final match before heading down south to Florida for a pair of matches over spring break. The Nittany Lions will face South Florida and SMU in Tampa, Fla. closing out their non-conference schedule before returning north to get set for Big Ten play.