UNIVERISTY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State women's tennis team (6-3) will travel to South Bend, Ind. and Urbana-Champaign, Ill. to compete against Notre Dame (7-1) on Friday, Feb. 17 at 3:30 p.m. and Illinois (4-3) on Sunday, Feb. 19 at 1 p.m. E.T. for two matches this weekend. The match versus Illinois will kick off the Nittany Lions' Big Ten play for the season.
"I'm really excited and so is the team to go out and compete against two really good schools," said head coach Alexandra Anghelescu. "These programs have a history of being tough and having great doubles. We had a great weekend this past weekend and a great preparation this week to lead up to it. As long as the team believes in themselves, we should have a good weekend. Obviously opening up with a Big Ten, with Illinois being a top program, it's really going to set the tone for the rest of the Big Ten season."
FOLLOW ALONG
At Notre Dame – Live Stream | Live Stats | Radio
At Illinois – Live Stream | Live Stats
PREVIEWING PENN STATE
The Blue and White earned a pair of wins in a doubleheader versus Kentucky, 4-1, and Saint Francis, 6-1, on Feb. 11.
Ioana Gheorghita clinched the match over the Wildcats, and Olivia Dorner clinched the match over the Red Flash.
Sofiya Chekhlystova went 4-0 on the weekend with two singles and two doubles wins with partner Carla Girbau.
NAVIGATING NOTRE DAME
The Notre Dame women's tennis team has seven wins this season. The Fighting Irish's latest victory was over Northwestern, 6-1.
Notre Dame has a pair of ranked singles players. Ranked by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, Senior Page Freeman is No. 91 and junior Yashna Yellayi is No. 115.
The match this weekend will be the first time the Nittany Lions face off against the Fighting Irish.
INVESTING THE FIGHTING ILLINI
The latest match that Illinois competed in was a 5-2 win against Illinois State.
The Fighting Illini has one ranked singles player in senior Ashley Yeah. Yeah is ranked No. 72. Illinois also has a ranked doubles pair. Katherine Duong and Megan Heuser are ranked No. 25.
The match up this weekend between Penn State and Illinois is the first Big Ten match for both teams.
UP NEXT
The Penn State women's tennis team will return home for a doubleheader on Sunday, Feb. 26 against James Madison at 10 a.m. and Duquesne at 4 p.m. E.T.
Keep up with the Penn State women's tennis team at GoPSUsports.com. For continued updates throughout the year, make sure to follow our Instagram @pennstatewtennis and Twitter @pennstateWTEN.
