BLACKSBURG, Va.-- The Penn State women's tennis team completed day one at the Hokie Fall Invite. Today, two rounds of doubles took place and one round of singles, with seven Nittany Lions advancing in the main singles draw.
In doubles, the pairings for Penn State were Gabby O'Gorman (Gunnedah, N.S. Wales, Australia) and Chelsea Sawyer (Clemmons, N.C.), Frederikke Svarre (Copenhagen, Denmark) and Samantha Smith (Cary, N.C.), Olivia Ryan (Victoria, Australia) and Olivia Rohrbacher (Sandusky, Ohio) and Sydney Weinberg (Winchester, Mass.) and Gracey Hirsch (Cincinnati, Ohio).
O'Gorman/Sawyer, in the Brotherhood doubles flight, had a bye in the first round. Next, they took on Medina/Soares of Liberty University, falling 8-6.
Svarre/Smith and Rohrbacher/Ryan both competed in the Loyalty doubles flight. Svarre/Smith had a bye in the first round and then took on Gotkiewicz/Whited of the University of Delaware, winning in dominating fashion, 8-2. Rohrbacher/Ryan fell to Bongart/Dollar of Liberty University, 8-6. Rohrbacher/Ryan rallied back in the back draw, defeating Morse/Sevo of Appalachian State, 8-5.
Weinberg/Hirsch competed in the Sacrifice doubles flight. They took on a mixed team of Earnhardt from Appalachian State and Mendoza from Bluefield State, winning 8-7(6).
Sawyer and O'Gorman competed in the Ut Prosim singles flight. Sawyer took on Maty Cianci from Iowa State, winning 7-5, 6-4. O'Gorman battled against Drousile Dzeubou from Liberty University, winning in three sets 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.
In the Honor flight singles, Penn State was represented by Smith and Svarre. Smith faced off against Shene Disbergen of Virginia Tech, dispatching her 6-4, 6-1. Svarre took on Ekaterina Grib from Iowa State, falling in three sets 6-3, 0-6, 6-4.
Ryan and Weinberg represented the Nittany Lions in the Leadership singles flight. Ryan defeated Dori Mesmer of Virginia Tech, 6-0, 6-2. Weinberg faced off against Heidi Swope from Appalachian State, pulling off a 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, victory.
In the Duty singles flight, Rohrbacher defeated Emma Petersen of James Madison, in three, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. In the Service singles flight, Hirsch took on Marielle Leahy of Radford, winning 6-0, 6-2.
"We picked up a number of wins today in both singles and doubles," said head coach Chris Cagle. "It is good to see the work that we have been putting in show up and especially in three set wins. The expectations for tomorrow are for us to build on today and be even better and tougher tomorrow. As we get farther into the draws then the competition will get even tougher, so I look forward to seeing our response!"
Saturday will feature two rounds of singles and one round of doubles, with all eight Nittany Lions continuing competition.
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.
