UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; February 12, 2017ââ'¬" Penn State battled hard against Pittsburgh in a Pennsylvania matchup defeating the Panthers 4-3. Freshman Samantha Smith (Cary, N.C.) and Shannon Hanley (Kensington, Md.) were dominant in their singles matches. Smith took down Jovana Knezevic in straight sets 6-1, 6-2. Hanley beat Clara Lucas in straight sets 6-4, 6-2.
"We knew our match with Pitt would be a battle and it was," said head coach Chris Cagle. Pitt always plays hard and today we competed all afternoon and it led us to a win. I was very happy with our doubles play and felt like it got us off to a good start. Lastly, it was good to see our two freshman come through down the stretch."
After a hard fought match, Dasha Sapogova (Belarus, Minsk) beat Callie Frey 1-6, 6-2, 7-5.
Penn State jumped out to an early 1-0 lead as they won all three doubles matches.
The Nittany Lions compete in their first road match of the season when they travel to Columbus, OH next Sunday, February 19, for a 12:00p.m. match up.
Keep up with the Penn State women's tennis team at GoPSUsports.com. For continued updates throughout the year, make sure to `like' our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pennstatewten and follow our twitter @pennstateWTEN.
Doubles Results:
1) Blik/McCluskey def. Washington/Frey 6-3
2) Zuhse/Dunn def. Luca/Blakely 6-1
3) Smith/Hanley def. Okamoto/Knezevic
Singles Results:
Washington def. Blik 7-6, 7-6
Blakely def. McCluskey 6-2, 2-6, 6-2
Rezende def. Zuhse 6-4, 6-2
Sapogova def. Frey 1-6, 6-2, 7-5
Smith def. Knezevic 6-1, 6-2
Hanley def. Lucas 6-4, 6-2