March 27, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- The Penn State women's tennis team broke into the ITA rankings this week and look to move up after their 4-3 victory over No. 43 Indiana Friday night. The victory was their third of the season over a ranked Big Ten opponent and the third win in a row overall for the blue and white.
"Today's match was just like all of our recent matches. Our whole team competed hard and it was a great team victory," said head coach Chris Cagle. "We will have to do the same thing Sunday against a strong Purdue team."
Dasha Sapogova (Minsk, Belarus) closed out the match for the Nittany Lions with her 6-1, 6-4 victory over Paula Gutierrez. The sophomore's victory capped off four straight singles wins for the blue and white.
"I didn't really think about clinching the match; I just was thinking of how I have to play," said Sapogova. "We are very close and it certainly feels good to win."
Indiana took an early 1-0 lead after the Hoosiers won two of the three doubles matches. Kim Schmider and Katie Klyczek clinched the doubles point with their 8-5 victory over Kisialeva and Sapogova. McCluskey and Surin put the Nittany Lions up early after they defeated Stephanie Smith and Shannon Murdy 8-3. Indiana evened the doubles match as Alecia Kauss and Sarah Baron defeated Katherine Whiteaway (Sawbridegworth, England) and Zuhse 8-4.
Devan McCluskey (Phoenix, Ariz.) evened the match at one with her 6-4, 6-3 victory over Stephanie Smith. Kim Surin (Montreal, Canada) tallied her fifth win in six matches with her 7-6, 6-0 victory over Shannon Murdy.
Victoria Kisialeva (Toronto, Canada) extended her win streak to two as she recorded a straight sets victory over Alecia Kauss 6-3, 6-4. Katia Blik (Moscow, Russia) battled hard with Katie Klyczek for three sets, but Klyczek won the match 6-7(2), 7-6(6), 6-4. Jacqueline Zuhse (Boca Raton, Fla.) went three sets as well, but fell 10-5 in the third set tiebreaker to fall to Sarah Baron.
"The team has done a great job of coming together and everybody's out there fighting everyday and that's exactly what it takes to beat quality teams like Indiana," said assistant coach Mike Fenwick.
The blue and white return to action Sunday, March 29 with a home match against the No. 28 Purdue Boilermakers with match time at 11:00 a.m. Make sure to check out our Facebook page at Penn State Women's Tennis and follow our twitter handle @pennstateWTEN for all the latest updates regarding the team.
Singles Results (Order of Finish: 5, 3, 2, 4, 1, 6)
1) Katie Klyczek (IU) def. Blik 6-7(2), 7-6(6), 6-4
2) Kisialeva def. Alecia Kauss (IU) 6-3, 6-4
3) Surin def. Shannon Murdy (IU) 7-6, 6-0
4) Sapogova def. Paula Gutierrez (IU) 6-1, 6-4
5) McCluskey def. Stephanie Smith (IU) 6-4, 6-3
6) Sarah Baron (IU) def. Zuhse 7-5, 2-6, 1-0(5)
Doubles Finish (Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1)
1) Kim Schmider/Katie Klyczek (IU) def. Kisialeva/Sapogova 8-5
2) McCluskey/Surin def. Stephanie Smith/Shannon Murdy (IU) 8-3
3) Alecia Kauss/Sarah Baron (IU) def. Zuhse/Whiteaway 8-4