April 12, 2015
IOWA CITY, IA- The No. 64 Penn State women's tennis team wrapped up their final regular season road match with a 4-3 victory over Iowa Sunday. The Nittany Lions extended their win streak to seven, including victories in their last three road matches. The blue and white now move to 7-2 in conference play and are on a six-match conference-winning streak.
Katia Blik (Moscow, Russia) recorded the clincher with her 6-3, 7-5 victory over Morven McCulloch. The sophomore earned her third win of the spring in the first singles position.
"Credit to our team for the wins this weekend," said head coach Chris Cagle. "It is tough to win on the road in the Big Ten and Iowa is a very well coached team."
The blue and white jumped out to an early 1-0 lead as the Nittany Lions were victorious on two of the three doubles courts. The newly created doubles team of Kim Surin (Montreal, Canada) and Sapogova clinched the doubles point after they defeated Katie Zordani and Zoe Douglas 8-3. Katherine Whiteaway (Sawbridgeworth, England) and Zuhse won their seventh doubles match of the spring season with their 8-2 victory over Anastasia Reimchen and Aimee Tarun.
After going down 1-0, the Hawkeyes won two singles matches in a row to take a 2-1 lead. Zordani defeated Jacqueline Zuhse 6-3, 6-1 while Taylor Shukow (Boca Raton, Fla.) fell to Ellen Silver 6-2, 6-1.
Penn State answered with two straight singles victories from Victoria Kisialeva (Toronto, Canada) and Dasha Sapogova (Minsk, Belarus) to put the blue and white back up 3-2. Kisialeva defeated Reimchen in straight sets 6-4, 6-3 while Sapogova beat Douglas 7-5, 6-3.
"We will now get ready for a strong Michigan State team," said Cagle. "It will be a great match and we hope to have a large crowd on Friday."
The Nittany Lions return home for the final home stand of the season next weekend against Michigan State and Michigan. Penn State will battle No. 51 Michigan State on Friday, April 17 at 4:00 p.m. The match will also be the annual Pink Zone Match, where members of the blue and white will be wearing pink attire for the match. Senior Day will be on Sunday, April 19, as Penn State will compete against No. 14 Michigan at 11:00 a.m. Follow Penn State on social media by `liking' our Facebook page at Penn State Women's tennis and following our twitter account @pennstateWTEN.
Singles Results: Order of Finish (6, 5, 2, 4, 1, 3)
1) Blik def. Morven McCulloch (Iowa) 6-3, 7-5
2) Kisialeva def. Anastasia Reimchen (Iowa) 6-4, 6-3
3) Annette Dohanics (Iowa) def. Surin 3-6, 6-4, 1-0(5)
4) Sapogova def. Zoe Douglas (Iowa) 7-5, 6-3
5) Katie Zordani (Iowa) def. Zuhse 6-3, 6-1
6) Ellen Silver (Iowa) def. Shukow 6-2, 6-1
Doubles Results: Order of Finish (3, 1, 2)
1) McCulloch/Dohanics (Iowa) def. Blik/Kisialeva 8-3
2) Surin/Sapogova def. Zordani/Douglas (Iowa) 8-3
3) Zuhse/Whiteaway def. Reimchin/Tarun (Iowa) 8-2