Feb. 9, 2014
RICHMOND, Va. - Freshman Dasha Sapogova (Minsk, Belarus) earned her sixth win of the spring at No. 3 doubles but the No. 50 Nittany Lions (3-4, 0-0) upset attempt was thwarted by No. 44 VCU (3-5, 0-0) as Penn State fell 6-1 on the road.
Olga Barscheuskaya and Daria Yakauleva swept Carmen Sandor (Toronto, Canada) and Taylor Shukow (Boca Raton, Fla.) in No. 1 doubles to give the Rams the early edge in doubles. With Nittany Lions trailing at No. 2 doubles, 5-2, Marie-Frederique Bedard and Sapogova took two straight games to draw within one, but Ludivine Burguiere and Cindy Chala held on to win the next game taking the match, 6-4 and clinching the doubles point for Virginia Commonwealth.
For the second straight day Katia Blik (Moscow, Rus.) and Katherine Whiteaway (Sawbrigeworth, Eng.) fought to no finish, with the Rams clinching the early point with the No. 3 doubles match tied 4-4. The Nittany Lions have only lost once at the No. 3 doubles spot through seven matches on the spring.
In singles Sandor faced her second ranked opponent in two day when she met No. 81 Yukako Noi at No. 2 singles. Noi came away with the victory winning, 6-1, 6-0. After dropping her first set 6-4, Bedard went down 4-0 before retiring against Yakauleva allowing VCU to take a 3-0 lead.
Salome Kvitashvili clinched the victory for Virginia Commonwealth knocking off Whiteaway at No. 5 singles, 6-1, 6-2. Blik was topped by Chala soon after at No. 1 singles, 6-4, 6-3, putting the Rams up by five.
Sapogova got off to a strong start and didn't look back winning her match against Burguiere 6-4, 6-4 to get the Nittany Lions on the board. With the win she increases her team-high singles total to six wins through seven matches. She has now won three straight matches tying her season-high when she started the season off with three consecutive wins.
At No. 6 singles Shukow fell to Barscheuskaya 7-5, 6-3 to close out the match. The Nittany Lions loss gives VCU a 6-4 edge in the all-time series after the Nittany Lions took the previous two meetings. Penn State will return home for two matches next week when they face Marshall on Friday at 6 p.m. and Penn on Sunday at 11 a.m.
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