April 11, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State (5-15, 1-7 Big Ten) fell to the No. 37 Boilermakers (10-7, 6-2 Big Ten) at the Penn State Indoor Tennis Center Friday night, 6-1.
"I thought we played well at certain spots, obviously Dasha and Katia's matches were competitive," said interim head coach Chris Cagle after the match. "On the flip side, I was impressed with Purdue's doubles, they were well coached, they were aggressive, and they executed well. We learn from things we did well, and we learn from things that other teams did well against us."
Purdue took an early lead in the match winning both the No. 1 and No. 3 doubles matches to earn the doubles point. Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum and Mara Schmidt notched the first victory topping Dasha Sapogova (Minsk, Belarus) and Katia Blik (Moscow, Russia) 8-3 at the No. 1 match.
The Boilermakers clinched the point when Claudia Escribens and Nicole Robinson knocked off Marie-Frederique Bedard (Montreal, Canada) and Taylor Shukow (Boca Raton, Fla.) 8-2 in the No. 3 match. Carmen Sandor (Toronto, Canada) and Katherine Whiteaway (Sawbridgeworth, England) trailed Natalia Davila and Krisztina Kapitany 7-4 at the No. 2 match when play was called.
Purdue increased their lead to two points when Robinson defeated Lisa Petruzillo (Muttontown, N.Y.) 6-0, 6-0 at No. 6 singles. The Boilermakers added another point when Andjela Djokovic topped Whiteaway 6-2, -6-4 at the No. 5 singles match.
The Boilermakers secured their sixth conference win of the season after Nicole Robinson defeated Sandor 6-4, 6-1 at No. 3 singles. Kapitany forfeited her singles match at No. 4 giving Shukow the win via walkover and Penn State their first and only point of the match.
At No. 2 singles Blik took the second set 7-6 to force a third set superbreaker but Bernard-Feigenbaum was able to hold off the late-match pressure and grab a 10-1 win in the set to earn the victory.
Schmidt closed out the match for Purdue giving them their 6-1 victory when she came back in the second set to take the final four games and take the match, 6-3, 7-5 at No. 1 over Sapogova.
"We need to play a more complete match on Sunday to have a good shot at beating Indiana," Cagle said. "With it being senior day, our three seniors I know they'll be ready to go and I know our whole team will be fired up and ready to compete."
The Nittany Lions will look to close out their home schedule on Sunday when they host the No. 41 Indiana Hoosiers on Senior Day at Sarni Tennis Center. The match will begin at 10:30 a.m.
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