UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.-- The Penn State women's tennis team returns home this coming weekend to host a pair of Big Ten matches. The Nittany Lions (10-6, 2-3 B1G) will face Minnesota (10-7, 3-2 B1G) on Friday, April 4 at 5 p.m. and Wisconsin (13-2, 5-0) on Sunday, April 6 at 11 a.m.
"It will be nice to be back home for a Big Ten two-match stretch this weekend," said head coach Chris Cagle. "We know Minnesota and Wisconsin are tough teams and we look forward to the challenge. So many of these matches come down to a handful of points, so having a great crowd out for Friday and Sunday can make a big difference for our team! We are preparing for the battle and look forward to Minnesota on Friday at 5 p.m.!"
Penn State is 6-0 at home to start the season and will be putting that perfect record on the line in these matches. The match against Minnesota is set to be hosted in the Indoor Tennis Center, and baring a change in the weather, the match against Wisconsin will be held outside at the Sarni Tennis Center.
FOLLOW ALONG
Minnesota: Live Stats
Wisconsin: Live Stats
PASSWORD: psuwten
LAST TIME OUT
Penn State most recently traveled to the Great Lakes State to take on Michigan and Michigan State. The Nittany Lions fell to then-No. 26 Michigan, 5-0 and Michigan State, 4-2.
Gabby O'Gorman (Gunnedah, N.S. Wales, Australia) grabbed her 11th singles and doubles wins of the season against Michigan State, both are a team-high.
GROUNDING THE GOPHERS
The Minnesota Gophers most recently lost to then-No. 26 Michigan, 7-0, prior to that they were on a five-match winning streak. In conference play, the Gophers are 3-2 with wins over Rutgers, Maryland and Indiana.
Bita Mancera leads Minnesota with 13 singles wins, all coming on court No. 3. Cammy Frei and Caitlyn Merzbacher have eight doubles wins as a pair to lead the Gophers.
Penn State last met Minnesota in 2018, where the Gophers walked away with a 5-2 win.
SCOUTING THE BADGERS
Wisconsin is currently riding a six-match winning streak, and owns conference wins over Minnesota, Maryland, Rutgers, Michigan State and Purdue. The Badgers will face No. 21 Ohio State on Friday before they travel to face the Nittany Lions.
Wisconsin has two ranked singles players in No. 50 Sara Castellano and No. 94 Lexi Keberle. Castellano leads the Badgers with 13 singles wins, closely followed by Keberle who has 12 and Anna Makarova with 11.
Last season, Penn State traveled to Wisconsin and came out with a thrilling 4-3 win, with Shannon Hanley (Kensington, Md.) clinching the win.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Olivia Rohrbacher (Sandusky, Ohio) and O'Gorman entered into the Oracle/ITA Division I Women's Doubles Rankings this past week, debuting at No. 79. This is the first career doubles ranking for Rohrbacher and O'Gorman.
The duo has a team-high 11 wins and started off the year on a nine-match winning streak.
TEN WINS
Penn State has 10 wins to its name, the last time the Nittany Lions reached 10 wins in a season was in 2015, when the team went 13-11.
UP NEXT
The Nittany Lions will remain at home to host Indiana on Friday, April 12 at 4:30 p.m. and Purdue on Sunday, April 14 at 11 a.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.
