Sept. 16, 2015 UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - After preseason conditioning, the Nittany Lions are more prepared than ever to open their season this weekend. The team will split as they head to the two first tournaments of the 2015 season. Seven of the Nittany Lions will head to Kansas City, Mo., and five will head to Midland, Texas, to take on a variety of competitor's.
The team's head coach, Coach Cagle, commented on the upcoming weekend, "We are excited to kick off our fall schedule with two strong tournaments in the Midland Invitational and Missouri Invitational. Both tournaments will give us a chance to see some different teams that we do not traditionally see in our spring schedule. In addition, the tournaments will give us the chance to gauge where we are at against quality competition and lead us to our goal of being as strong as possible going into the spring season."
During the hidden dual tournament in Kansa City, Mo., Penn State will take on Missouri, Louisville, and Nebraska, starting Friday, September 18th and ending Sunday, September 20th. The seven team members headed to the Missouri Invitational consist of Katia Blik (Moscow, Russia), Dasha Sapogova (Belarus, Minsk), Samantha Tutelman (New York, N.Y.), Taylor Shukow (Boca Raton, Fla.), Kelly Mengel (Pittsburgh, Pa.), Liyin Xu (Chengdu, China), and Hannah Kratky (Greenwich, Conn.).
Also taking place Friday, September 18th and running until Sunday, September 20th is the Racquet Club of Midland Invitational in Midland, TX. At the Invitational the team traditionally takes on competitors such as Texas Tech, Baylor, Rice, Kansas, Texas, Pepperdine, TCU, and many others in a flight format tournament. The five Penn State competitors heading there for the weekend consist of Devan McCluskey (Phoenix, Ariz.), Katherine Whiteaway (Sawbridgeworth, England), Jacqueline Zuhse (Boca Raton, Fla.), Kim Surin (Montreal, Canada), and Emily Rivers (Washington, D.C.).
With no new freshmen to the team this year, the experienced Nittany Lions are prepared to take on the 2015 season by storm. Coach Cagle is excited for the upcoming weekend, "The practice times will be over and now it is time to go out and compete. I am looking forward to seeing where we are at!"
After the three-day tournaments in Missouri and Texas the team heads to Blacksburg, Va. Friday, September 25th for the Hokie Invitational. Check out the Penn State women's tennis team on social media by "liking" them on Facebook and following them on Twitter @PennStateWTEN. Visit GoPSUsports.com for updates and more Penn State Athletics recaps.
