Sept. 19, 2015 UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa-The Penn State women's tennis team began their 2015-16 season today at the Missouri Invitational (Kansas City, Mo.) and Racquet Club of Midland Invitational (Midland, Texas). The split team will be competing at their respected tournaments through Sunday, September 20th.
The doubles matches at the Mizzou Invitational started the day for the Nittany Lions. Coach Cagle who accompanied seven members of the Penn State women's tennis team to Missouri for the weekend said, "Our doubles picked up from the first round to the second round and I feel like that carried us into the afternoon singles play". In doubles matches, the Nittany Lions lost competitive matches against Missouri before the doubles duo Taylor Shukow (Boca Raton, Fla.) and Liyin Xu (Chendgu, China) got Penn State on the board against Nebraska at #3 doubles in a 6-4 victory.
Coach Cagle also commented on the team's singles matches against Louisville, "Our singles match with Louisville was a very competitive atmosphere which I liked. The new no ad format makes you play under pressure which we did a pretty good job of doing. We are looking forward to tomorrow's play and continuing to work to get better!"
All seven Penn State team members who went to Kansas City, Mo. took on Louisville today in singles action including Hannah Kratky (Greenwich, Conn) who was defeated by Turner Yates of Missouri and Ariana Rodriguez of Louisville later in the day. Katia Blik played a high quality match before falling to Louisville 6-2, 2-6, 7-5. Samantha Tutelman was victorious in a three set match against Louisville that lead to a win for Penn State 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Taylor Shukow played a composed match in her 6-3, 6-4 win over her Louisville competitor. Kelly Mangel (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Liyin Xu fell to Louisville, whereas Dasha Sapogova (Belarus, Minsk) gained a Nittany Lion win 6-3,6-3.
Coach Fenwick commented on the first day at the Racquet Club of Midland Invitational for the remaining five Penn State women's tennis team members, "Midland is a great tournament year after year. You have to be ready to play from the get go. The team played some great matches today but also saw some areas we need to improve on."
The Penn State Women's tennis team put up a fight in Midland, Texas. In double matches, Whiteaway/Zuhse and McCluskey/Surin fell short of the win. Jackie Zuhse (Boca Raton, Fla.), Kathrine Whitaway (Sawbridgeworth, England), Emily Rivers (Washington, DC) and Devan McCluskey (Pheonix, AZ) competed in singles matches the first day at the tournament. Kathrine Whiteaway took on Alexandra Zenovka (3-6,0-6), and Karlya Lapayeva (5-7,1-6) and fell in her back draw match. Jackie Zuhse defeated Summer Collins of Kansas (4-6,7-6,6-3) and later fell to Tamuna Kutubidze (6-7,7-6,6-3). Devan McCluskey defeated Maria Cordona of Kansas (7-5, 7-5) and later was defeated by Angelos de los Rios (6-2, 7-6). Emily Rivers took on McKeena Root and Kamilla Galieva falling in both singles matches.
Keep up with Penn State women's Tennis as they continue their 2015-16 season opening weekends at GoPSUSports.com Check out the Penn State women's tennis team on social media by "liking" them on Facebook and following them on Twitter @PennStateWTEN.