UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.-- The Penn State women's tennis team will host its final home matches of the season as Wisconsin (8-7, 7-6 B1G) visits Friday and Minnesota (3-10, 3-10 B1G) comes to town on Sunday. The Nittany Lions (8-6, 7-6 B1G) will look to capitalize off of last weekend's rest.
FOLLOW ALONG
Wisconsin: Live Stats
Minnesota: Live Stats
LAST TIME OUT
Penn State split their last matches two weeks ago, falling to #19 Michigan before defeating Michigan State for the third time this season.
Against #19 Michigan, the Nittany Lions came out of the gates with an impressive doubles performance with wins at No. 1 from Gabby O'Gorman (Gunnedah, N.S. Wales, Australia) and Karly Friedland (Hollywood, Fla.) and No. 3 from Sofiya Chekhlystova (Talinn, Estonia) and Alexandra Nielsen (Vancouver, B.C., Canada). The Wolverines responded by sweeping singles in a 6-1 Michigan win.
Against Michigan State, Penn State once again secured the doubles point with wins at No. 2 and 3. The Nittany Lions wrapped up a 4-3 victory with singles wins from O'Gorman, Samantha Smith (Cary, N.C.) and Alina Lebedeva (Moscow, Russia) to complete the season sweep of the Spartans.
SCOUTING THE BADGERS
Wisconsin has found success in the matchup against Penn State with the last Nittany Lion win coming in 2018.
The Badgers have had an up-and-down season but had a competitive matchup against #6 Northwestern in their last outing with a 4-3 loss. Wisconsin has struggled with ranked opponents as five of their seven losses come against teams ranked in the top 50 at the time. In singles, #125 Denise-Antonela Stoica has been a consistent performer this season holding a 9-4 record at No. 3. In doubles, the duo of Soica and Ava Markham has led the way with a 5-2 record while Xinyu Cai and Natasya Semenovski also hold a respectable 5-3 record.
LOOKING INTO THE GOPHERS
Minnesota has struggled this season winning only three of their 13 matches on the year and losing their last four.
Despite the team's struggles, #79 Rachel Hanford has found success this year with a 9-7 record overall in singles playing at the top of the lineup.
Penn State was victorious in the last meeting between the two sides with a 5-2 win.
UP NEXT
Following the conclusion of this weekend, Penn State will travel to Columbus to play the final match of the season against Ohio State.
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.
