Jan. 31, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- Penn State wrapped up their final road match before heading back home as the Nittany Lions fell to No. 26 Kentucky 6-1. Dasha Sapogova (Belaurs, Minsk) fell in straight sets to Aldila Sutjiadi 6-2, 6-3. Kim Surin (Montreal, Canada) made her first singles appearance of the spring season and was defeated by Mami Adachi 6-3, 6-2.
"You have to give credit to Kentucky as they played really well in singles play, which is the reason they are in the Sweet 16 of the ITA National Indoors," said head coach Chris Cagle.
Victoria Kisialeva (Toronto, Canada) and Nadia Ravita split the first two sets before Ravita captured the third set 6-1. Devan McCluskey (Phoenix, Ariz.) came up short against Kirsten Lewisn 6-7, 6-3, 0-1.
The Nittany Lions captured the doubles point as the first two doubles teams won their matches. Kisialeva and Sapogova defeated the No. 19 doubles team of Aldila Sutjiadi and Nadia Ravita 6-1. The red-hot duo of McCluskey and Surin captured another victory as they beat Kelsey Dieters and Mami Adachi 6-2. The pair has now won five straight and improve their overall record to 7-1.
"We fought hard and I definitely see improvements from week to week. Our doubles play continues to be a strong point for us. There were a couple of three-set matches that could have gone our way," said Cagle. "Even though the score was 6-1, I thought it was a very close match and it could have gone 4-3 for us if a couple of things had went our way."
Penn State returns home for their home opener on Wednesday, February 4 when the Pittsburgh Panthers come visit University Park. The match time is set for 4:00 p.m. This will also be the first annual "PAWS Match Day" as fans are encouraged to come out and cheer on your Nittany Lions as well as make a donation to help PAWS.
Singles Results: (Order of finish: 2, 4, 3, 1, 5, 6)
1) Ravita (UK) def. Kisialeva 7-6, 5-7, 6-1
2) Sutjiadi (UK) def. Sapogova 6-2, 6-3
3) Dieters (UK) def. Blik 6-2, 7-5
4) Adachi (UK) def. Surin 6-3, 6-2
5) Lewis (UK) def. McCluskey 6-7, 6-3, 1-0
6) Lederman (UK) def. Shukow 6-2, 4-6, 1-0
Doubles Results: (Order of finish: 3, 1, 2)
1) Kisialeva/Sapogova def. #19 Sutjiadi/Ravita (UK) 6-1
2) Surin/McCluskey def. Dieters/Adachi (UK) 6-2
3) Morin-Kougoucheff/Lewis (UK) def. Zuhse/Whiteaway 6-2