Feb. 25, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Nittany Lions were unable to hold off the No. 52 Ohio State Buckeyes, falling in their Big Ten opener Tuesday night, 7-0.
Ohio State got off to a fast start winning both the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles matches to go up 1-0 in the match. At No. 2 doubles, Carmen Sandor (Toronto, Canada) and Katia Blik (Moscow, Russia) fell to Gabriella De Santis and Sandy Niehaus, 8-1.
No. 3 doubles was the next to finish with Miho Kowase and Ferny Angeles Paz topping Katherine Whiteaway (Sawbridgeworth, England) and Taylor Shukow (Boca Raton, Fla.), 8-1 to give Ohio State the early lead.
Marie-Frederique (Montreal, Canada) and Dasha Sapogova (Minsk, Belarus) won three straight games to even the match at No. 1 singles 3-3, but Ohio State took the next three to make it 6-3 before the match was called.
Ohio State added to their lead when Nicole Flower topped Shukow at No. 6 singles, 6-2, 6-0. The Buckeyes went up 3-0 when Grâinne O'Neill defeated Whiteaway 6-4, 6-4 at No. 5 singles.
Angeles Paz bested Bedard 6-3, 6-4 at No. 4 singles to add to the Buckeyes lead. At No. 2 singles after dropping her first set 6-1, Sapogova stormed back to even the match at one set apiece taking the second set, 6-1. In the final set Kowase was able to fend off the comeback effort and close out the match winning 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 to put Ohio State up 5-0.
At No. 1 singles Blik sent the match to a superbreaker winning the second set 6-3 after dropping the first one by the same margin. In the superbreaker De Santis escaped with the 10-7 win putting Ohio State up by six.
Niehaus defeated Sandor in a second set tiebreaker to close out the match for the Buckeyes, winning at No. 3, 6-4, 7-6 (3). The Nittany Lions are back in action when they host West Virginia at noon on Sunday at the Penn State Indoor Tennis Center.
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