UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.-- The Penn State women's tennis team dropped its final home match of the regular season to Purdue, 4-3, Sunday afternoon in the Indoor Tennis Center. Despite winning the doubles point, and several close singles matches, with two going to a third set, the Boilermakers (8-12, 3-6 B1G) were able to overcome the Nittany Lions (11-9, 3-6 B1G).
"Obviously today stings, because we put ourselves in a position up 3-1, to close out the match and we just couldn't quite do it," said head coach Chris Cagle. "Purdue is a good team, they're talented and we knew that. So much of this game is mental and today we just didn't quite close out matches that we had opportunities in."
DOUBLES
Penn State took the doubles point following a clinch from Shannon Hanley (Kensington, Md.) and Samantha Smith (Cary, N.C.). The junior captains defeated Caitlin Calkins and Seira Shimizu, 7-5.
Gabby O'Gorman (Gunnedah, N.S. Wales, Australia) and Olivia Rohrbacher (Sandusky, Ohio) grabbed their first win over a ranked duo, taking down No. 45 Silvia Ambrosio and Amina Mukhametshina in convincing fashion, 6-2.
SINGLES
Penn State started off hot with two singles wins from Smith and Sawyer, but the Boilermakers were able to come back in later matches to notch the win. Rohrbacher and Frederikke Svarre (Copenhagen, Denmark) came up just short in singles, but were able to push their matches to a third set.
Smith defeated Mukhametshina, 6-1, 6-2, to extend her win streak to four. Chelsea Sawyer (Clemmons, N.C.) took down Shimizu, 7-5, 6-3.
UP NEXT
The Nittany Lions close out their regular season next weekend, taking on Illinois on Friday, April 19 at 5 p.m. and Northwestern, April 21 at 12 p.m.
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.
