Nov. 4, 2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA.--The Penn State women's tennis team wrapped up day two of competition at the Kitty Harrison Invitational and Hokie Invitational. The tournaments will both finish tomorrow, November 5.
The Kitty Harrison Invitational saw strong doubles play on day two. The team also competed in singles.
Penn State went 3-0 against Charlotte in doubles. Samantha Smith (Cary, N.C.) and Gabby O'Gorman (Gunnedah, N.S. Wales, Australia) got things started with a win against Martin and Cowper 8-4. Frederikke Svarre (Copenhagen, Denmark) and Hanna Wikberg (Stockholm, Sweden) defeated Imparato and Lee 8-6. Taylor Shukow (Boca Raton, Fla.) and Ines Milosevic (Burlington, Ontario) finished off the sweep with a 8-7(5) win against Smith and Safont.
The Nittany Lions fell in singles, going 0-6 against North Carolina and Duke. O'Gorman fell to Chi of Duke in a hard fought battle 4-6, 6-3, 1-0. Svarre lost to Akkerman of UNC 6-1, 6-4. Smith was defeated by Ouellet-Pizer of UNC 6-3, 6-3. Wikberg lost in the tie breaking set to Vazquez of UNC 6-0, 1-6, 1-0. Milosevic fell to Kane of UNC 6-3, 6-2.
"We played and competed overall really well today," said head coach Chris Cagle. "I liked the fact we came out and took care of business in the three doubles matches. We did not come out with a singles win, but we played well and had our chances on many courts. We need to finish off strong tomorrow in our singles play versus South Carolina."
Switching over to the Hokie Invitational down in Blacksburg, Va. the team also saw action in singles and doubles.
Starting off in doubles, Hannah Kratky (Greenwich, Conn.) and Liyin Xu (Chengdu, China) won against Devi and Ghanem of Miami (OH) 7-5. Shannon Hanley (Kensington, Md.) and Bennett Dunn (Orlando, Fla.) were defeated by Roka and Owens of James Madison.
In singles, Hanley started off against Ponomarvera of Miami (OH), but fell to her 6-0, 7-5. Dunn found success against Collins of Virginia Tech winning 6-2, 6-2. Xu played Devi of Miami (OH) and fell. Kratky lost to Ghanem of Miami (OH) 6-0, 6-0.
"The weather forced us inside today and required us to change our preparation and game plans," said assistant coach Mike Fenwick. "We did this effectively and had a better day of competition."
Both the Kitty Harrison Invitational and Hokie Invitational finish play tomorrow. This is the final fall tournament weekend for the Nittany Lions.
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