Feb. 7, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -
The No. 50 Nittany Lions (3-2, 0-0) head to Virginia for a pair of ranked matches against regional foes. Penn State will face No. 43 College of William & Mary (2-6, 0-0) at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday at the McCormack-Nagelsen Tennis Center in Williamsburg, Va. They'll cap off their weekend against No. 44 Virginia Commonwealth University (2-4, 0-0) at the Thalhimer Tennis Center in Richmond, Va. Sunday at 11 a.m.
LAST TIME OUT
The Nittany Lions fell to No. 40 Kentucky at home last Saturday in the rematch from their first-ever meeting last season. Kentucky took an early lead winning the doubles point and first singles match before freshman Dasha Sapogova (Minsk, Belarus) earned a straight sets victory over Ohio State Buckeye transfer Kelsey Dieters in the No. 3 match to cut the deficit to one. The Nittany Lions weren't able to get any closer, dropping the final four matches and falling to the Wildcats 6-1 in the Penn State Indoor Tennis Center.
PENN STATE NOTES
- Dasha Sapogova leads the Nittany Lions with four singles wins on the season.
- Marie Frederique Bedard leads Penn State in doubles with an unbeaten 4-0 record.
- Penn State enters the match with a 16-14 (.533) record in singles and 7-4 (.636) record in doubles.
- The freshmen have provided a boost early in the season recording almost half of the team's victory total in singles (7 of the 16) and being a part of six of their seven doubles wins.
- The Nittany Lions are closing out their four-match stretch against ranked opponents.
- Penn State has a .500 record or better at No. 1-3, and No. 5 singles as well as No. 2 and 3 doubles on the season.
- Four Nittany Lions have a .500 record or better in singles and five enter the weekend .500 or better in doubles.
SCOUTING WILLIAM & MARY
The 43rd ranked William & Mary Tribe have played one of the toughest schedules so far this season competing against six ranked teams in their first eight matches including four teams in the top 20. William & Mary has gotten off to a tough start dropping all six matches to ranked opponents, with their two wins coming at home to unranked East Carolina and James Madison teams.
The Tribe enter the weekend match posting a 16-26 singles record and 4-14 doubles record. Leena Nemchinov leads William & Mary with a 4-2 record in singles during the spring. Maria Belaya and Nemchinov along with Nabila Farah and Melanie Roy both bring in .500 records in doubles.
PENN STATE-WILLIAM & MARY SERIES HISTORY
William & Mary lead the all-time series 14-5 and have won the past 11 meetings. Penn State is looking for their first-ever win against the Tribe in Williamsburg, Va. having dropped all other visits. Penn State's last win against William & Mary came during the 1980-81 season when they won 7-2. The team's most recent meeting came in 2011 with the Tribe winning, 4-3.
SCOUTING VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY
The Rams enter the weekend with a 2-4 record with all of their losses coming to ranked opponents on the road. After starting off their season at home with victories over Georgetown and Campbell they traveled to Chapel Hill, N.C. for ITA National Team Indoor Qualifiers where they were topped by No. 31 Memphis and No. 62 Denver. Last weekend they fell to No.14 Virginia and No. 33 South Carolina in Charlottesville, Va.
PENN STATE-VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY SERIES HISTORY
Penn State has won the previous two meetings with VCU cutting the Rams lead in the all-time series to 5-4. The Nittany Lions took the first two meetings of the series winning in 1990 and 1997 before dropping the next five to VCU.
Last season Penn State knocked off VCU in convincing fashion, winning 6-1 at home to improve to 9-0 on the season. In the match the Rams clinched the doubles point to give them an early lead before the Nittany Lions went on to sweep in singles. In 2012 the Nittany Lions upset a VCU squad that was ranked No. 40 in the nation when they came away with a 4-3 victory on the road.
IN THE RANKINGS
No updated poll was released this week due to the National Indoor Team Championships. In the ITA Poll released on January 29, Penn State moved back one spot to No. 50. They stay in the company of 13 of their opponents this season including seven Big Ten teams. Singles and doubles rankings will be released along with the team poll next week.
UP NEXT
The Nittany Lions will return home to face Marshall and Penn at the Penn State Indoor Tennis Center. They'll square off against the Thundering Herd on Friday, February 14 at 6 p.m. and face the Quakers on Sunday at 11 a.m. On Saturday Marshall will face Penn in the Indoor Tennis Center at 2 p.m.