March 20, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Nittany Lions (4-9, 0-1 Big Ten) travel to East Lansing, Mich. for a Friday matinee with Michigan State (12-3, 0-1 Big Ten) to open up their road conference schedule before returning home to face the No. 15 Michigan Wolverines (9-3, 1-0 Big Ten) on Sunday. Friday's match is set for 2 p.m. at the MSU Indoor Tennis Facility and Sunday's is scheduled for 11 a.m. at the Penn State Indoor Tennis Center.
PROMOTIONS
There will be free pizza for all fans in attendance at Sunday's match versus Michigan at the Indoor Tennis Center.
LAST TIME OUT
The Nittany Lions dropped a pair of matches on back-to-back days in Tampa, Fla. over spring break. On Monday, March 10 the Nittany Lions squared off against then-No. 62 South Florida (currently ranked No. 41) but couldn't manage the upset, falling 6-1. Katia Blik (Moscow, Russia) earned the team's lone point playing at No. 2 singles for the first time this season where she topped Kayla Rizzolo in a super breaker.
On Tuesday the Nittany Lions faced a young SMU squad that saw Penn State take both the No. 1 and No. 2 singles matches. Despite the wins at the top of singles play the Mustangs were able to get the win taking the doubles point and the bottom four matches in singles. Blik increased her win streak to three matches with her win at No. 2 while Dasha Sapogova (Minsk, Belarus) earned her first win at the No. 1 spot this season.
PENN STATE NOTES
- With her win against SMU's Vaszilisza Bulgakova, her first at the No. 1 position, Sapogova increased her team-lead in singles victories with 10 on the season.
- Marie-Frederique Bedard (Montreal, Canada) leads the team with five wins in doubles play this spring.
- Penn State enters the match with a 33-45 (.423) record in singles and 911-19 (.367) record in doubles.
- The freshmen have combined for 17 of the 33 wins (52%) in singles for the Nittany Lions this season.
- Penn State has a 3-1 record when clinching the doubles point, and a 1-8 record when their opponent takes the doubles point.
- The Nittany Lions have winning records on the spring at both No. 2 (7-6) and 3 (9-4) singles.
SCOUTING MICHIGAN STATE
Michigan State has already eclipsed their win totals from each of the past two years as well as matching their win totals from 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2010-11 with 12, the most since the Spartans finished with 14 in 1993. Michigan State fronts a 12-3 record with two of their three losses coming to ranked opponents.
Marina Bohrer, the Midwest Region's 18th-ranked player, leads the Spartans with a 12-2 record thus far playing at No. 1 singles. The Spartans have dominated their early opponents in both singles (68-22) and doubles (29-11) including winning 12 of 15 doubles points on the year. Bohrer and Erin Faulkner lead the way for the Spartans in doubles with a 9-2 record while playing at the No. 1 spot.
PENN STATE-MICHIGAN STATE SERIES HISTORY
Penn State holds a 16-10 edge in the all-time series having won the past three meetings all by the score of 4-3. The Nittany Lions have won their previous two matches in East Lansing with the Spartans last win at home coming back in the 2009-10 season.
In last season's match the Nittany Lions narrowly defeated Michigan State 4-3, playing them in University Park for the first time in four years. The Nittany Lions took an early lead winning both of the finished doubles matches to secure the first point. In singles the Nittany Lions won the matches at No. 2 and No. 4 to put them up 3-0 in the match and a win away from victory. Petra Januskova (Ottawa, Canada) clinched the victory with her three set win over Bohrer at No. 1 after Michigan State notched their first point with a win at No. 5. The Nittany Lions dropped the final two matches after the clinching the victory to close the match.
SCOUTING MICHIGAN
The Wolverines visit Happy Valley sporting a 9-3 record with all three losses coming to teams ranked in the ITA Top 15. Against ranked opponents Michigan holds a 6-3 record with only one of those wins coming at home. They earned three consecutive wins at the ITA Kick-Off Event clinching them a spot in the National Team Indoors where No. 10 Duke and No. 13 Clemson gave the Wolverines their first defeats of the season on back-to-back days.
The Wolverines have four players ranked in the ITA Singles Poll with Emina Bektas and her 11-1 record at No. 1 singles leading the Wolverines and putting her at No. 7 in the country. Ronit Yurovsky comes in at No. 20, Brooke Bolender sits at No. 98 and Sarah Lee rounds out the group at No. 103. In doubles Michigan features three pairings in the ITA Doubles Rankings with Emina Bektas and Brooke Bolender entering the match ranked No. 18 in the nation with a 4-2 record at No. 1 doubles. Amy Zhu and Sarah Lee are ranked No. 75 and lead the team with a 9-2 record playing at No. 2 doubles.
PENN STATE-MICHIGAN SERIES HISTORY
The Nittany Lions trail Michigan in the all-time series 22-5 with their last win coming at home in 2001. The last time the Nittany Lions and Wolverines met in University Park, Michigan came away with a 5-2 win with Chelsea Utting (Peachtree City, Ga.) and Nina Sertic (Zagrab, Croatia) earning the points for Penn State.
In last season's meeting the Nittany Lions upset bid was stopped short with Penn State falling 5-2. In doubles the Nittany Lions pairing of Januskova and Utting bested Michigan top duo and the nation's 3rd-ranked team of Bektas and Bolender 9-8 (10-3) but Michigan was able to take the other two to win the doubles point. In singles Devan McCluskey (Phoenix, Ariz.) defeated No. 104 Sarah Lee and Carmen Sandor (Toronto, Canada) upended Amy Zhu to give the Nittany Lions their points in the match.
IN THE RANKINGS
The Nittany Lions did not reenter the rankings that were released on Tuesday, March 18. No singles or doubles rankings were released this weekend. Seven Big Ten teams are ranked in the ITA Top 75 this week with Northwestern topping the list at No. 9 and Iowa rounding out the conference holding the 65th spot. Four non-conference opponents of Penn State also find themselves in this week's poll with Baylor leading the way at No. 14.
UP NEXT
The Nittany Lions will head to Illinois for a weekend series with the No. 52 Illinois Fighting Illini and No. 9 Northwestern Wildcats. They will face Illinois on Saturday, March 29 at 11 a.m. before heading to Evanston for an 11 a.m. meeting with the Wildcats on Sunday.