March 29, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- Fresh off of their 4-3 victory over No. 43 Indiana, the Penn State women's tennis team kept the momentum rolling Sunday with their 5-2 victory over No. 28 Purdue. The victory was the blue and white's fourth in a row, including three straight victories over ranked Big Ten opponents.
"Today was a great team win and we had contributions from every single member of our team today," said head coach Chris Cagle. I am really proud of everyone as we beat a really strong Purdue team. This should give us momentum going forward for the rest of the season."
This was the second highest victory over a ranked team in program history, right behind the Nittany Lions upset over No. 27 Purdue on March 25, 2012. Penn State improved their conference record to 5-2 this year. The blue and white have now won six out of their last seven matches. The Nittany Lions improve their record to 8-9 (5-2) while Purdue's record drops to 10-4 (3-2).
Dasha Sapogova (Minsk, Belarus) clinched the match for the second straight time as she won a three set thriller over Nicole Robinson. After dropping the first set in a tiebreaker, Sapogova dominated the second set, not allowing Robinson to win a game before the sophomore ran away with the third set 6-2.
Jacqueline Zuhse (Boca Raton, Fla.) put the Nittany Lions up 2-0 with her dominating 6-2, 6-1 victory over Andjela Djokovic. Kim Surin (Montreal, Canada) put the blue and white on the cusp of another win with her straight sets defeat of Lynda Xepoleas. After dropping the first set 6-3, Katia Blik (Moscow, Russia) came back to defeat Daniela Vidal 7-5, 1-0(6) to give the Nittany Lions a 5-1 lead.
"I think that we are really coming together now and it is helping us a lot," said Kim Surin. "It was a pretty tough start to the season, but we never gave up and every time we step on the court, we have more energy and we can sense how close we are getting."
Victoria Kisialeva (Toronto, Canada) split the first two sets with Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum before falling in the third set 7-6(3). The Toronto native was down 5-1 in the third and won five straight games to take a 6-5 lead, but Bernard-Feigenbaum proved to be too much to overcome.
The doubles point came down to court number two and the battle between McCluskey/Surin and Xepoleas/Davila. The Nittany Lion duo clinched the doubles point with their 8-4 victory over the Boilermakers second doubles team. Kisialeva and Blik teamed up for the first time this season and defeated the 55th ranked Daniela Vidal and Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum 8-2. Katherine Whiteaway (Sawbridgeworth, England) and Zuhse fell to Nicole Robinson and Krisztina Kapitany 8-0.
The blue and white conclude their three-match home stand next Saturday, April 4 with a 1:00 p.m. match against St. Bonaventure. Stay up to date with everything regarding Penn State women's tennis by `liking' our Facebook page at Penn State Women's Tennis and following us on twitter @pennstateWTEN.
Singles Results: (Order of Finish: 6, 3, 4, 2, 1, 5)
1) Blik def. Daniela Vidal (Pur) 3-6, 7-5, 1-0(6)
2) Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum (Pur) def. Kisialeva 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(3)
3) Surin def. Lynda Xepoleas (Pur) 6-4, 6-4
4) Sapogova def. Nicole Robinson (Pur) 6-7(4), 6-0, 6-2
5) Krisztina Kapitany (Pur) def. McCluskey 5-7, 6-2, 1-0(2)
6) Zuhse def. Andjela Djokovic (Pur) 6-2, 6-1
Doubles Results: (Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2)
1) Kisialeva/Blik def. No. 55 Daniela Vidal/Tess Bernard-Feigenbaum (Pur) 8-2
2) McCluskey/Surin def. Lynda Xepoleas/Natalia Davila (Pur) 8-4
3) Nicole Robinson/Krisztina Kapitany (Pur) def. Whiteaway/Zuhse 8-0