Sept. 25, 2015 UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa- The Nittany Lions had an opening day full of singles matches and up to two rounds of doubles at the Virginia Tech campus. The first day results from the Hokie Invitational are good news for the Nittany Lions. The doubles team of Samantha Tutelman (New York, N.Y.), and Taylor Shukow (Boca Raton, Fla.) made it to the semifinals of their flight after besting Carver/Martin from Wofford University 6-0, and Aubets/Segersfors from VCU 6-3.
Kelly Mengel (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Liyin Xu (Chengdu, China) also competed in the Maroon Doubles Flight and fell to Cisneros/Pacholski, Hannah Kratky (Greenwich, Conn.)/ Emily Rivers (Washington, D.C.) were defeated by the Townson pair Gomer/Lesage in the White Doubles Flight. In the Orange Doubles Flight, Penn State doubles pair Katherine Whiteaway (Sawbridgeworth, England)/ Jacqueline Zuhse (Boca Raton, Fla.) defeated Strubel/Vasyukhina from Miami University 6-4. In second round action Whiteaway and Zuhse lost a close contest to Mita/Stoica of Virginia Tech by one break 6-3. Katia Blik (Moscow, Russia)/ Devan McCluskey (Phoenix, Ariz.) fell 6-4 to Guibe/Heidenreich from James Madison University as well in the Orange Doubles Flight.
Penn State took part in eight flights of singles matches throughout the day. Devan McCluskey started the team off on a good note after advancing over Aya Terashi from Morehand State University (1-6, 7-5, 10-7). Jackie Zuhse fell in a close battle to Raluca Mita from Virgina Tech (6(7)-7, 6-2, 7-10). Taylor Shukow was defeated by Diana Stomlega from Armstrong Atlantic University, Emily Rivers also fell to Yergeniya Shusterman from Towson University. Katia Blik defeated Towson competitor, Nicole Shaknazarova, (7-5, 7-6(0). Kelly Mengel advances over Wofford (6-3,6-3), Katherine Whiteaway wins over Towson(4-6, 6-4 (10-2), Liyin Xu advances (6-1, 6-4), and Samantha Tutelman beat out Radford competitor Meili Martin(6-3,6-4). Hannah Kratky finished up the day in a hard fought loss to Frances Peyton of Virginia Tech (7-5, 6-1).
Coach Cagle said, "I was happy with the way we competed today. Today was a long day with moving indoors and we competed well. I look forward to building on that tomorrow!"
Keep up with the Nittany Lions as they complete in Hokie Invitiational 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
